“天人感应”与“人定胜天”——浅析古人对地震的认识

Interaction of Heaven and Man or Man Can conquer the nature——the viewpoint of ancient people on earthquake

地震给社会的经济、社会安定带来一定的影响,同时人类社会也对地震现象存在着种种认识,这种认识随着人的社会实践和社会进步而不断地发展、深化。在中国历史上,总有人把地震现象归咎于"天人感应",而一些人又试图从"水火"、"阴阳"等朴素唯物主义观点赋予地震事件完全不同的概念。在如何战胜地震灾害上,是"听天由命"还是"人定胜天",同样有着截然不同的认识。

The ancestor had the opinion that nature, earth and human are all for one, and the earth should be steady but not in disturb, otherwise changes would take place in personal. The Feudal monarch, pretending to be the only legitimate son of nature, alleged that they had an induction to the gods, and the earthquake was a warning of immortal conduct. Since the monarch could induced to nature, the masses had to submit to the will of Heaven. Such opinion, almost holding the whole feudal society, deeply affected the cognition of earthquake. Nevertheless with the progress of society, a totally diverse concept comes into being, which tries to explicate earthquake based on external rules.