Heresy Or Enlightenment: Li Zhi’s Critical Spirit And Enlightenment Thought

In the middle and late Ming Dynasty,there was a great crisis in the field of social thought.As an official philosophy,Neo Confucianism can no longer answer the questions of the times.Li Zhi,as the representative of progressive thinkers,puts forward constructive opinions on Neo Confucianism by means of criticism,hoping to heal the crisis of the times.But because of his "direct heart to move" and "non holy can’t",he was regarded as "the most heretic" by orthodox Taoists.He was framed and persecuted many times and finally committed suicide in prison.This paper discusses the meaning of the three most colorful labels of Li Zhi: heresy,critical spirit and Enlightenment thought,and clarifies the relationship between heresy and enlightenment,critical spirit and Enlightenment thought.Why is Li Zhi called heresy? Is Li Zhi really heretic? The article answers all the questions and clarifies for Li Zhi: Li Zhi is not an evil heresy,he is a critical enlightenment thinker! In fact,Li Zhi’s heresy is a spontaneous trend of thought of enlightenment,which is an inevitable product of the times.His fierce criticism of orthodox Daoism is a means of breaking old and creating new.The purpose is to set up new values and meet the pace of the times.Li Zhi’s criticism is a means and process,and the purpose and result are for enlightenment.This includes the breaking of traditional value and the setting of new value.On the one hand,it criticizes the blind obedience of Neo Confucianism and stifles the disadvantages of personality,and breaks the reactionary nature of its repressed personality.On the other hand,pursuing equal personality and independent thought,he fully affirmed the legitimate rationality of individual survival desire.Li Zhi regards the pursuit of utility as the most reasonable demand of an individual.At the same time,he asserts that there must be privacy,and puts forward the theory of "childlike innocence".He believes that the "childlike innocence" of a person without moral domestication is self-interest,which is the essence of "childlike innocence".He thinks that the new standard is "childlike innocence".