Were there any thinkers like Confucius and Mencius in the Tang Dynasty?

There are, for example, Liu Zongyuan's materialistic thoughts (1). Doubting and denying idealism and theism can be divided into three stages. "The connection between man and nature" is Liu Zongyuan's main thought in his early days. Liu Zongyuan's belief in "the connection between heaven and man" can be seen from his works, such as Six Questions about Civil and Military Officials, Zhong Nanshan Ancestral Monument and Taibai Mountain Ancestral Monument. From the nineteenth year of Zhenyuan to the third year of Yuanhe, it was a period of doubt, during which idealism and materialism coexisted. In The Hundred Palace Tables of the Ministry of Rites, he thinks that the purpose of "suburban heaven and earth" is to make "_ Yang harmonious and transplant smoothly", and that "today's land is in harmony with Yuan, overlooking Yuan, and the beginning of beauty is only its luck", trying to explain suburban worship ("heaven and earth are in harmony with Thailand" and "Yin and Yang are in harmony") with materialistic thought, because Liu Zongyuan's materialism sprouted from his idealistic thought, so this. The third stage is the development and establishment of his atheism, and the thoughts of this period can be excavated from Tian Dui and Tian Shuo. (2) The connotation of Liu Zongyuan's materialist atheism 1. For the emergence of the monism of heaven and earth, Liu Zongyuan's view can be summarized as Yuan Qi's monism. He believes that the world was constructed by Yuan Qi, and the monism emphasizes that Yuan Qi is the only factor that constitutes the world. "Tian Shuo" mentioned that Han Yu thought that "things are bad and worms are born; Yin and Yang are born with poor vitality. Insects are born with good things and bad things, and they eat and bite. ) hole, insect disaster is also very good. There are those who can go and those who actively do things; Those who return to rest are also enemies of things. " Han Yu thinks that things themselves are bad, so the emergence of bugs people is caused by the disharmony of Yin and Yang of heaven and earth, so the existence of people themselves is opposite to heaven and earth. Liu Zongyuan replied that heaven is a "metaphysical person", the earth is a "metaphysical person", and vitality is something between heaven and earth. These are all objective things and exist objectively. "Fake people can go to their caves", and these things will not be returned. "Heaven is Right" answered the question of where the sky came from at the beginning. Is there an ultimate creator in the universe? "At the beginning of ancient times, who preached it? The top and bottom are shapeless, how to test them? It's dark, but who can do it? Feng Yi just likes it. How did you know? Obviously it is secretly, but when? " Liu Zongyuan replied: "There is no end to the beginning and endless life. Hong Ling's mind is full of troubles, so what can I say? _ It's dark and bright, it comes and goes, and it changes, but it's full of vitality. What's the point! " It is pointed out that heaven and earth only exist because of vitality, and the existence of heaven and earth is explained by vitality. The Theory of Heavenly Kings puts forward: "Essence is also people's understanding, those who get it are enlightened and aware, while those who take a nap are not hidden, and those who take a nap are deeper than silence", "vigorous spirit is also people's ambition, and those who get it run big and long". Liu Zongyuan believes that "essence" is injected into the human body, and people are awake; Get the "vitality" and you will last forever. Both "essence" and "righteousness" here refer to will, so it can be seen that will is not inherent. It is certainly unscientific to say that people's wisdom and ambition are produced by gathering gas to fill people, but it avoids theism. Liu Zongyuan believes that the movement of the world is an infinite movement and an expression of objective laws. (According to Mandarin) In the second year of Zhou Youwang, a great earthquake occurred in Shuijing, Weishui and Luoshui in the Western Zhou Dynasty. Dr. Bai Yang's father thinks this is caused by imbalance of Yin and Yang. In this regard, Liu Zongyuan criticized that mountains and rivers are only natural objects between heaven and earth; Yin and Yang are just vitality floating between heaven and earth. Everything has its own operating rules, which people can't change. 2. Oppose fatalism and superstition Liu Zongyuan also opposes fatalism. He believes that heaven has no will and cannot interfere with personnel. This thought denies the induction between heaven and man and fundamentally denies the theoretical basis of the theory of destiny. This view is particularly evident in non-Putonghua. It is mentioned in Guo Yumeng that Guo Gong dreamed that the State of Jin was attacking the State of Guo and called the diviner. The official said that this is politically immoral and a disaster from heaven. Liu Zongyuan retorted that "Guo, a small country, is also Thai. In order to attract the anger of a big country, it is chaotic because of political shortage. Xia Yang died without fear, but he still used force to increase his revenge, so-called liberation." Death, which is not appropriate? Evil cares about dreams? "(Guo, non-Mandarin) He believes that the death of Guo lies in its own administrative corruption, its arrogance and its belligerence. Therefore, its demise is inevitable, which is not a punishment from heaven and has nothing to do with dreams. Liu Zongyuan is even more skeptical about divination. " The fortune teller is also a prostitute on earth, and the Tao is useless. "Saint, I dare not do anything wrong. However, the use of sages is also to drive away ugly people, and it is not commonly used but for credit reporting. Later, the evil spirits were shocked and used it to continuously collect information, which in turn hindered major events. " (Non-Mandarin Divination), he thinks that the art of divination is an outdated behavior and has little effect. The important thing is that a fortune teller can't accomplish enough even if he doesn't do it. He believes that divination exists in the world because Zuo Qiuming was fascinated by witchcraft and became more deified. Since then, it has been far-fetched and formed a set of theories. There is no need to believe in divination. Liu Zongyuan also criticized the process first, saying that Liu Zongyuan believed that people's life spans were different, but they were all dead. The Song of Immortality is a rich and simple fu rule, which is not credible. Source: Communication research.