The Theory of Heaven’s Arbitrary Will

Abstract

Is man’s fate pre-determined by heaven or created by man himself after birth? Does heaven arrange man’s fate by randomly or by design? According to the view of heaven’s arbitrary determination, a man’s fate is pre-arranged by heaven; once it is settled, there is no altering it. As for why there are people rich or poor, honorable or humble, clever or slow-witted, or benevolent or vicious, all is decided by sheer chance and hardly explicable using a cause-and-effect rationale. In the pre-Qin period, the most ardent advocate of this notion was Confucius.