在傳統中國，不論智識份子與一般民眾，對「天」、「道」、「天命」、「良知」都有一種根本的信仰，但自鴉片戰爭開了中國的門戶，西潮入侵，中國人這種根本信仰日漸喪失。因此，中國文化近代所面對的重要問題，不單衹是民主與科學的發展的問題，而且是如何重建中國人建基於儒家人文哲學的傳統根本信仰的問題。根據家儒哲學，人的本性是上天所賦予而與天合一的，實現人的本性就是實現天道，天道是普遍的理。所以實現人的本性就是實現普遍的理，只有這樣人超越了他的現實有限性而得到存在的無限意義。這種根本的或宗教的信仰，與我們在常識中經驗到人有不同層面的存在、科學理論如進化論、最新近的生物遺傳工程的複製人類的可能性，都沒有理論上的基本矛盾。而且應用懷海德哲學的楖念對儒家哲學加以引申，更可以對最新的關於心靈的科學研究中有關心腦關係的死結得以解開。因此在二十一世紀，儒家哲學仍然對中國人(以至其他文化其他國家的人)的安身立命有其意義。

　　　　　In traditional China, intellectuals aand laymen alike had their ultimate faith on Heaven (Tien 天), the Way (Dao 道), the Devree of Heaven (Tien Ming 天命), and Conscience (Liang-chi 良知), This faith of the Chinese faded away gradually in the torrent of Western culture which had broken open the door of China since the Opium War, 1842. Therefore, the crucial problems which chinese Culture faced are not only the development of science and democracy but also the re-establishment of the Chinese traditionial religious faith which is a kind of humanism based on Confucian philosophy. According to Confucian philosophy human naure is endowed by Heaven and one with heaven. To realize one's human nature, one is realizing the Dao of Heaven. The Dao of Heaven are universal principles. Therefore to realize human nature is to relize universal principles through which man transcends his actual finitude and acquires infinite meaningfulness. This religious faith of the Chinese does not contradictiry with our common sense experience of seeing human existence in dfferent levels, or with scientific theory such as evolution theory, or with recent scientific-technological development of the possibility of duplicating man in genctic engineering,or, in light of explication of Confucianism by Whiteheadian concepts, with the latest scientific inquiry into mind-brain relationship.