Confucius’s Agnosticism

Confucius (551-479 B.C.) did not throw any light on the problem of origin.  He did not speculate on the creation of things nor the end of them.  He was not troubled to account for the origin of man, nor did he seek to know about his hereafter.  He meddled neither with physics nor metaphysics.  There might, he thought, be something on the other side of life, for he admitted the existence of spiritual beings.  They had an influence on the living, because they caused them to clothe themselves in ceremonious dress and attend to the sacrificial ceremonies.  But we should not trouble ourselves about them, any more than about supernatural things, or physical prowess, or monstrosities.  How can we serve spiritual beings while we do not know how to serve men?  We feel the existence of something invisible and mysterious, but its nature and meaning are too deep for the human understanding to grasp.  The safest, indeed the only reasonable, course is that of the agnostic—­to leave alone the unknowable, while acknowledging its existence and its mystery, and to try to understand knowable phenomena and guide our actions accordingly.

Between the monism of Lao Tzu and the positivism of Confucius on the one hand, and the landmark of the Taoistic transcendentalism of Chuang Tzu (fourth and third centuries B.C.) on the other, we find several “guesses at the riddle of existence” which must be briefly noted as links in the chain of Chinese speculative thought on this important subject.

Mo Tzu and Creation

In the philosophy of Mo Ti (fifth and fourth centuries B.C.), generally known as Mo Tzu or Mu Tzu, the philosopher of humanism and utilitarianism, we find the idea of creation.  It was, he says, Heaven (which was anthropomorphically regarded by him as a personal Supreme Being) who “created the sun, moon, and innumerable stars.”  His system closely resembles Christianity, but the great power of Confucianism as a weapon wielded against all opponents by its doughty defender Mencius (372-289 B.C.) is shown by the complete suppression of the influence of Mo Tzuism at his hands.  He even went so far as to describe Mo Tzu and those who thought with him as “wild animals.”

Mencius and the First Cause

Mencius himself regarded Heaven as the First Cause, or Cause of Causes, but it was not the same personal Heaven as that of Mo Tzu.  Nor does he hang any cosmogony upon it.  His chief concern was to eulogize the doctrines of the great Confucius, and like him he preferred to let the origin of the universe look after itself.

Lieh Tzu’s Absolute