Why did metaphysics prevail in Jin and Song Dynasties?

At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the ruling group split and the social crisis became increasingly acute. Confucianism, which is dominant in ideology, began to shake, and the contents of Confucian classics and divination were empty and absurd, which did not help solve social and political problems at all, and the traditional value system began to collapse. From then on, the thoughts of "nature" and "inaction" began to rise, and people began to advocate valuing life and avoiding the world. The long-term war and brutal political struggle, as well as the decadent and boring life of the gentry, made many people in the ruling class depressed and tried to seek spiritual sustenance in emptiness and indifference, so metaphysics came into being.

Metaphysics is a philosophical trend of thought based on Laozi and Zhuangzi's thoughts and integrating Confucian classics. The meaning of metaphysics refers to two aspects: statement and action: making statement mysterious and discussing the ontological problem of "transcending words and images" in detail; Act lofty and stay away from specific affairs. Therefore, the study of emptiness, metaphysics and metaphysics can be collectively called metaphysics. Metaphysics scholars were mostly celebrities at that time, flaunting their family background, appearance and behavior, and being "light" of nothingness became a temporary trend. Some metaphysicians advocate breaking etiquette, but most still maintain the ethics of the ruling class.

The development of metaphysics has mainly gone through four stages.

Metaphysics represented by Wang Bi and Yan He is the first stage of its development. From talent discussion at the end of Han Dynasty to the category of metaphysics ontology. Wang Bi had the greatest influence on China's philosophy. At that time, people paid attention to Laozi, Zhuangzi and Zhouyi and called them "San Xuan", which was the favorite work of metaphysics in Wei and Jin Dynasties. They regard everything in the world as "nothing", which is the noumenon of the world. "Being" is the existence of various concrete things and the expression of noumenon "nothing". Wang Bi also discussed the relationship between nature and birthright, honor and inferiority, honor and inferiority and religion from a philosophical point of view, arguing that honor and inferiority are the result of nature and should reflect nature. Yan He wrote The Tao Te Ching and The Analects of Confucius, Wang Bi annotated the Book of Changes and Lao Zi, and wrote The Analects of Confucius, all of which explained Confucian classics with Taoist thoughts in an attempt to unify Confucianism and reconcile the contradiction between nature and Confucianism. It is a unique way for the development of metaphysics that how Wang and metaphysics scholars inherit the atmosphere of the Qing Dynasty, ask difficult questions about some philosophical issues and argue them repeatedly, which is called "making it clear". Wang, who was born in Confucianism, has a prominent position and his heart is attached to Lao Zi and Zhuang Zi. He shows a detached attitude, which not only defends the rationality of the free life of aristocratic families, but also wins the praise of "Senior One", and metaphysics has become a common practice in a short time.

Bamboo metaphysics represented by Ji Kang and Ruan Ji is the second stage of the development of metaphysics. Philosophically, Ji Kang, Ruan Ji and Xiang Xiu developed Wang Bi's thoughts of "respecting the essence and benefiting at the end" and "respecting the essence and promoting the end" respectively by taking advantage of the internal contradictions of Wang Bi's system, which led to the development of metaphysics in the official school period in two aspects. Ji Kang and Ruan Ji advocate nature, and believe that "nature" is the original state of the universe, a regular, harmonious and unified whole, in which there are no contradictions and conflicts. As a part of nature, human society should be a harmonious whole without conflicts of interest. They believe that the famous religion has destroyed this harmonious state, so they advocate that "the more famous religion is, the more natural it is" and "it is not Tang Wu, but a thin hole". He was extremely dissatisfied with the ruling Sima Group's cover-up of political corruption in the name of religion, and denied that the name of nature was consistent with that of religion. Contrary to Ji and Ruan, Xiang Embroidery in this period believed that there was no contradiction between nature and Ming Jiao, and explained "nature" by expressing emotion and getting nature, and put forward the proposition that "people have feelings when they are alive, and expressing emotion is nature", and thought that human desire and nature were inseparable. It is acknowledged that there is a biological basis of "no life and no death" as the basis of materialization of all things, but the concepts of "self-generation" and "self-transformation" are introduced, which has become an intermediate link in the development of metaphysics from the sublimity of Wang Bi to the worship of existence of Pei Wei and Guo Xiang.

Metaphysics in the Western Jin Dynasty, represented by Pei Wei and Guo Xiang, constituted the third stage of the development of metaphysics. During this period, metaphysics was still developing in two directions: First, the idea of "learning from famous teachers and letting nature take its course" developed from optimates to the extreme, which made some celebrities at that time, such as Ruan Zhan, Wang Cheng and Ruan, inherit the decadent side of their thoughts, indulge in debauchery and pursue superficial freedom. This poor imitation of debauchery completely stifled the metaphysical school's ideological creativity and made it decline. Secondly, together with the thought of Xiang embroidery, it developed into the philosophy of worshipping things of Pei Wei and Guo Xiang. Pei Wei wrote The Theory of Deterioration, which criticized the tendency of "the more famous religions, the more natural" and reaffirmed the role of Zoroastrianism. He put forward the philosophical view of "nothing is born, nothing is born", opposed to looking for the essence of things outside of everything, and thought that everything was born with a body. Guo Xiang further developed Pei Wei's thought of worshipping things, put forward new propositions such as "nothing is born" and "things are not equal", and put forward the concept of "uniqueness" on the basis of the theory of "everything is born"

Metaphysics in the Eastern Jin Dynasty is the fourth stage of the development of metaphysics, represented by Zhang Zhan, Han Bo, Tao Yuanming and Justin. At this time, the Sima regime moved south, and the social contradictions were sharp and complicated. The issues of life and death and liberation become the central content of metaphysics. Liezi by Zhang Zhanzhu combines the theories of advocating truth and restraining emptiness, describes the world and life as rapidly changing, fleeting, hypocritical and impermanent, and advocates sentimentalism, thus leading metaphysics into a desperate situation. This also reflects the political decline of the gentry class. After the Eastern Jin Dynasty, metaphysics and Buddhism merged, and all schools of Prajna explained Buddhist scriptures in the language of metaphysics. Therefore, Buddhism replaced metaphysics, and the development of China's philosophy entered a new stage.

Metaphysics in Wei and Jin Dynasties was a highly speculative philosophy, and the trend of metaphysics initiated a new period in the cultural history of China. The development of China's philosophy in Wei and Jin Dynasties entered a new stage.