Patty Lee, The New Theory Of Life And Thought

Li Ao's philosophy has great influence in the history of Chinese philosophy. However, we did not carry out the meaning of his philosophy articles. On the base of Confucius, Li Ao assimilated the theories of human nature mainly from Taoism, though he also involved Buddhism. So I don't agree with Zhu Xi, Ruan yuan and Feng you lan, who declared that Li Ao's philosophy derived from Buddhism. This present thesis also correts some mistakes and draws some new conclusions about the research of Li Ao's life.In the preface, I provide some information about the book, such as researches in the past times, academic value, research meaning and methods.In the first chapter, I try my best to analyze and solve some promblem of Li Ao's biographical details. Some concerned historical sources and some research articles have negligence and mistakes about Li Ao's life and essays. Bearing the intention of solving these promblem, the thesis makes a careful revies of Li Ao's birth and his career of government. Thus, the thesis contribute a great deal to the further research about his works and philosophy thinking.The second chapter is, therefore, designed to give a detailed introduction and comment about the research on Li Ao's human nature philosophy. My third chapter, fourth chapter and fifth chapter is the emphersis of my thesis. The academia has been paying much attention to Li Ao' ideas, especially his famous philosophy article Fu-Xing shu. Most people are discussing the origin of his idea and his influence on the Neo-Confucian in Song Dynasty. From different point of Confucius, Taoism and Buddhist, I discussed its breakthrough in exceeding Confucians and its value in the history of philosophy. Through my explanation, it is for sure that we can review Li Ao's philosophy.Li Ao did not establish the doctrine of Fu-Xing on reality but on ontology,which not only took in Mencius good-nature doctrine but also transcened it. Due to the influcnce of Taoism and Buddhism, Li Ao constructed Confucian doctrine of Fu-Xing. He was one of the first Neo-confucians, for he had a basis of Neo-confucians in Song Dynasty.My sixth chapter and seventh chapter research Li Ao's idea from new point of Chun-Qiu and Rites,which will help us have a comprehensive mastering of his thinking and the Ancient Prose Movement in the middle Tang Dynasty.