A trend of thought that appeared in China during the Wei and Jin Dynasties advocating for Lao and Zhuang, generally refers to the metaphysics of the Wei and Jin Dynasties. The concept of "Xuan" was first seen in "Laozi": "Xuan is mysterious and is the door to all mysteries." Wang Bi's "Laozi Guide" said: "Xuan is what is said to be deep." Metaphysics is the study of profound and far-reaching issues. People in the Wei and Jin Dynasties paid attention to "Laozi", "Zhuangzi" and "Yijing", which they called the "Three Mysteries". The main representatives of metaphysics in the Wei and Jin Dynasties are He Yan, Wang Bi, Ruan Ji, Ji Kang, Xiang Xiu, Guo Xiang, etc. The emergence of metaphysics in Wei and Jin Dynasties has its profound social background and ideological and cultural background. In short, it was created on the basis of the decline of Confucianism in the Han Dynasty to make up for the shortcomings of Confucianism; it evolved and developed from Taoism and Huang-Lao philosophy in the Han Dynasty; it was a direct evolution of Qingtan in the late Han Dynasty and the early Wei Dynasty. . Looking at the metaphysics of the Wei and Jin Dynasties, its basic characteristics are:
① Taking the "Three Mysteries" as the main research object, and using "Laozi" and "Zhuangzi" to annotate the "Book of Changes".
② Centered on the dialectical question of “to have or not to have”. The Guiwu school of metaphysics, represented by He Yan and Wang Bi, regards "nothing" as the root of the world and the basis of the unity of the world; Pei Yu, a theorist who advocates existence, believes that existence is self-generated, and self-generated things take existence as their body.
③ The basic content of its philosophy is to explore the ontology of the world. The Guiwu School regards "nothing" as the basis for the existence of "you" and puts forward the ontological idea of ??"taking nothing as the basis"; Guo Xiang advocates the theory of independence, believing that "you" exists alone and does not need "nothing" as its own identity.
④ Its philosophical purpose is to solve the problem of the relationship between Mingjiao and nature. Wang Bi used the old method of interpreting Confucianism to annotate the "Book of Changes" and "The Analects of Confucius", harmonizing Confucianism and Taoism, and believed that Mingjiao was the "end" and nature was the "origin". Mingjiao was the inevitable expression of nature, and the two were the root and end. body-use relationship. Guo Xiang put forward the theory that Mingjiao is nature and believed that Taoist nature is consistent with Confucian Mingjiao. Ruan Ji and Ji Kang put forward the idea of ??"transcending the name of religion and leaving it to nature", which showed an anti-Confucian tendency.
⑤ Use the method of "being so proud that you forget to say anything". In response to the fragmented and cumbersome interpretation methods of Han Confucianism, Wang Bi, Guo Xiang and others emphasized that when arguing issues, we should pay attention to grasping the meaning, opposed to insisting on words and images, and proposed the methods of "forgetting the words when you are proud" and "reflecting the meaning behind the words".
⑥ Take "identification of names and analysis of principles" as its philosophical thinking form. Metaphysicians attach great importance to the differentiation of names and principles, and are good at conceptual analysis and reasoning. The differentiation of names and principles is one of the basic characteristics of their thinking form.
In terms of its philosophical category, metaphysics can be called the science of action. "Practice" simply means to abstract, and metaphysics is to apply some abstract content in a vivid way. Explain and develop.
As for the metaphysics of its popular era, it can also be called Wei and Jin metaphysics. Metaphysics originated in the Wei and Jin Dynasties and became popular in the Sui and Tang Dynasties. This is closely related to the society at that time. The Wei and Jin Dynasties are simply the period of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms Time, we are watching the Three Kingdoms stand. One moment you beat me, and the next moment I beat you. If you lived in that era, it is conceivable that people and the intellectuals at that time all had a sense of precarity at all times, so talking about theory easily became the main activity after dinner in the society at that time, in order to temporarily achieve spiritual satisfaction and avoid such The harsh reality. There is one sentence that can summarize the characteristics of metaphysics: the spirit of Sui and Tang Dynasties, the character of Wei and Jin Dynasties.
The combination of these two reasons determines that metaphysics not only has a mysterious and profound aspect, but also has the function of satisfying the spiritual world and comforting the soul.