• Studies in Philosophy East-West
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• no.92
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• pp.85-118
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• 2019

The purpose of this paper is to explore Confucian Philosophy of the Chèn-wěi books in the Han dynasty, and to find the social and political implications that it reveals. The study is needed because the Chèn-wěi books contain ideas for solving the problems of the times. And topics that are lacking or not sufficient in scripture are discussed in more depth. As a result of this study, the Confucian Philosophy of the Chèn-wěi books was discovered to have the following characteristics: The Chèn-wěi books were a mixture of those who wanted to deny the legitimacy of the Han dynasty and those who wanted to defend it. The forces that tried to deny it went in the direction of denying the legitimacy of the Liú-Han regime and defending the emergence of new forces by pursuing the theory of sensation between heaven and man (天人感應說) since Dong Zhong-Shu and insisting on 'the theory of Hán-Wēn (寒溫說: Hán-Wēn-Shuō). They also laid the theoretical foundation for a new force to emerge through Qì-monolithic cosmology. But this is a natural consequence of the incompetence, deviation, and the various Zāiyì of the West-Han regime at the time. However, those who wanted to defend the legitimacy of the Han dynasty wanted to meet the political needs of the emperor and the vested interests around the emperor as well as the legitimacy of the Liú-Han regime through Shòu-Mìng-Zhī-Fú (受命之符), the Dào and Qì dualistic cosmology, the theory of Guà-Qì (卦氣說: Guà-Qì-Shuō) and other means. Because Shòu-Mìng-Zhī-Fú defended the legitimacy of the Hàn dynasty by mystifying Gāo-Zŭ of Hàn Liú-Bāng's teacher, Zhāng-Liáng (張良). Also because the Dào and Qì dualistic cosmology was strengthening the order of the feudal class as Cosmogony by subdividing its creation process from the substance of a metaphysical's Tài-Yì (太易) to the matter of a physical's Tài-Chū (太初), Tài-Shǐ (太始) and Tài-Sù (太素). And it is because the theory of Guà-Qì was more active in meeting the political demands of the then ruling circles by connecting nature and personnel more closely by mystifying it, than that of the existing Mèng-Xǐ and Jīng-Fáng. In view of this, the Chèn-wěi books, except for the theory of Hán-Wēn and the Qì-monolithic cosmology designed to quickly end the harsh environment of the end of the West-Han dynasty, served as a champion of the Liú-Han regime and its vested interests. The Confucian Philosophy of the Chen-wěi books can be assessed as having a strong political inclination. Because the theory of Chèn-wěi was formed due to the need to pursue the characteristic of arbitrary interpretation of New-Text Scholarship in an extreme manner and respond more actively to the socio-political needs of the ruling.