A study of the relationship between cosmology and ethics in the Analects has been overlooked for a long time because there are understandings that cosmological issue is not discussed in the Analects. This dissertation proposes that the correlation between the way of cosmos or nature and morality already appears in the Analects. A philosophical construction of various discussions in the Analects on heaven (tian), time, and dynamics of change points to an ethico-aesthetic correlation between human existence and the cosmos. Confucius's ethics is "Cosmo-ethics" which considers that the good life of the individual and the social would reflects a harmonization with nature or cosmos, and the way of nature is the "source" of that morality. Major concepts in Confucian ethics, namely, humanness (ren), propriety (li) and righteousness (yi) can be conceptualized and understood from this Cosmo-ethics perspective. However, Confucius's Cosmo-ethics is not developed into a systematic whole as Confucius does not explicate how the way of heaven is known and the relationship between morality and human nature is not explored. Moreover, Confucius limits the knowledge of the way of heaven only to the sage and the junzi. In the Mencius the conception of human nature (renxing) reflects a development of the idea that the way of nature correlates with morality . Like Confucius, Mencius considers heaven as the source of morality, but he extends that role of heaven as the source of morality in the sense that heaven regulates morality through human nature. In this way, understanding human nature is both an understanding of morality and the reality of heaven. This dissertation argues that human nature, according to Mencius, is both a biological and a cultural achievement concept. All human beings have the sprouts of virtue which naturally are moral predispositions in their heart-mind, but the development and achievement of these sprouts also depend on the social process or relationships within the family. Human beings are not innately endowed with heaven, but develop through moral cultivation of the sprouts of virtue in heart-mind. Moreover, Mencius develops Cosmo-ethics from his view of human nature, namely, the differences between righteousness from inner and outer heart-mind, the relationship of heart-mind and vital force (qi), and the extension of humanness. Thus, we can argue that the Confucian Cosmo-ethics is developed into a systematic whole in the Mencius.
