秦汉·天谴观念的兴亡——漫步地震五千年(5)

Qin-Han:The rise and fall of the divine punishment view

天谴观是在远古“天人合一”哲学思想上发展起来的,视灾异为上天对施政失道的谴责警告。这种观念的内涵是不断变化的,它没有探讨自然界的客观规律,仅在客观上起到调节社会矛盾的作用。早期为君臣提供了谏言善治的机会,君王则以控制信息、自省罪己来处置。中期演变成查撤高官、官场倾轧的手段。清朝则将地震的发生与文字狱结合起来,变成维护统治、镇压百姓的工具,最后随着封建社会一起走向灭亡。坚持科学与民主,是社会发展的必由之路。

The divine punishment view was developed based on the ancient philosophy of“the unity of heaven and mankind”,seeing the disasters as a warning from heaven for the failure of governance.The connotation of this concept is constantly changing and does not explore the objective laws of nature,but objectively plays a role in regulating social conflicts.While the early days provided opportunities for kings and ministers to advise on good governance,the king disposed of them by controlling information and introspecting on his own sins.In the medium term,it has evolved into a means of checking and removing senior officials and tipping the scales of officialdom.The Qing Dynasty,on the other hand,combined the occurrence of earthquakes with a literal prison,turning it into a tool to maintain the rule and suppress the people,and finally went to the end along with the feudal society.Insisting on both of science and democracy is the right way for social development.