No Fear from Heaven: How Song Confucian Classicists Discredited the Omenology of the Five Phases

Abstract

This article employs Tzvetan Todorov’s ‘triggers of interpretation’ to examine how Song Confucian classicists disproved the omenology of the Five Phases. Since the first century, the omenology has shifted to being the paradigm of interpreting omens and disasters. However, many Confucian classicists during the Song dynasty grew dissatisfied with this paradigm and offered arguments to challenge its authority and validity. A few studies have noted this but have not dissected why Song Confucianists could discredit the system deeply ingrained in the Chinese intellectual landscape. To address this gap, I first revisit the omenology of the Five Phases and identify that its feasibility rests on the authority of Confucian learning and the analogy between signs and interpretants. Next, I discover that the counterarguments of most Song Confucianists not only elucidated this omenology as a misinterpretation of Confucian classics by Han Confucian classicists, but also found the analogy unreasonable and devoid of any ground.