A Discussion of "Heaven Produced the Virtue that is in Me" in the Confucian Analects

Author: Man-Ming Chen(Department of Chinese Language and Literature,National Taiwan Normal University)

Vol.&No.：Vol. 47, No.2
Date：October 2002
Pages：87-104
DOI：10.6210/JNTNULL.2002.47(2).01

Abstract：

Since ancient times there have been several interpretations of Confucius' "Heaven produced the virtue that is in me*." Does this "virtue (der2)" mean our human inner "nature (xing4)" or outer behavior? What is the relationship between this (der2) and "na- ture" in the Doctrine of the Mean (zhong1-yong1)? Moreover, what are the correlations (if any) between "Heaven produced the virtue that is in me" and "What heaven has conferred is called nature**?" The present paper focuses on these still undecided issues. First, I analyze the necessary features of "virtue" and "nature" in the Analects. Then, I further explore the meaning of these terms in the light of the Confucian view of "wisdom (zhi4)" and "humaneness (ren2)," and the theory of "sincerity (cheng2) and intelligence (ming2)" in the Doctrine of the Mean. Finally, I conclude that human "nature (xing4)" is the same as "virtue (der2)," since "Heaven produced the virtue that is in me." This strongly sug- gests the Confucian (ru2chia1) origin of the notion that "What hea- ven has conferred is called nature" in the Doctrine of the Mean.

Keywords：virtue & nature　 Virtue & Wisdom　 Sincerity & Intelligence　Confucian Analects Doctrine of the Mean

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