On "the Relations Of Taixu And Qi" In Zhangzai’s Philosophy

Taixu and Qi are the two main categories of Zhangzai’s philosophy, and the relationship of them has its meaning in both Ontology and Cosmology. So the Ontology and Cosmology are two necessary aspects in the study of Zhangzai’s philosophy. In ancient China, people didn’t comprehend the distinction between Ontology and Cosmology clearly, because of that, in modern vision, the relationship between Taixu and Qi is not only the core issue of Zhangzai’s philosophy, but also becomes the most intense debate among the scholars’ study on Zhangzai’s thought. All in all, the key of the dispute is that whether Taixu or Qi is the arche of the world.Under the mode of chinese traditional thinking and the perspective of Ontology and Cosmology, to begin from the problems Confucians in Northern Song dynasty faced and the cultural background of Zhangzai’s thought, this thesis reveals the consciousness of question of Zhangzai’s philosophy. Then, delve the text, take out systematic defiberings to Taixu, Tiandi, Yinyang, Wu, Dao, Qi and so on, analyse the differences and relations among them. Overall, my thesis believe that, Taixu is Qi, which is insubstantial, and furthermore it is the arche of Qi. Unlike in posterity, Ontology and Cosmology didn’t been distinct clearly in Zhangzai’s thought. He intergrated Tian of Confucian and Wu of Tao into Taixu, argued that, Qi is the carrier of Taixu, and Taixu is the base of Qi’s variation. By remould the concept of Wu and Tian with Qi, Zhangzai formed his idea that Taixu is the arche of the world. That is to say, in Zhangzai’s philosophy, Ontology and Cosmology had a close relationship especially referred to the arche. And this determines that we have to research and discuss Zhangzai’s thought of the relationship between Taixu and Qi both by way of Ontology and Cosmology. Zhangzai’s thought of arche carried out in the generation and return of Qi, so that the relationship between Taixu and Qi in Zhangzai’s thought Wandering between Ontology and Cosmology.