On He Yan Metaphysics

The metaphysics is a kind of more critical philosophy in Wei-Jin period. One of the features of it enriches the concept and category of Chinese traditional philosophy. It is an important stage in the history of the ancient Chinese philosophy and also an integral part of Chinese philosophy. As the pioneer of metaphysics in Wei-Jin period, He Yan has good reputation in political and academic field. Seldom did the researchers extend the field of He Yan and his works for years, and they were not enough. Moreover, there were relatively less systematic and complete researches about He Yan’s thought. Some researchers even could not comment objectively about him in the study of “the voice of Zhengshi”, without considering his position, his identical thoughts and his highly praise of Wang Bi. Therefore, most researchers lack adequate understanding of He Yan’s historical position and his thoughts, and it will inevitably affect people on how to understand and grasp the development on Chinese traditional philosophy. Therefore, extend researches on his historical position in Chinese traditional philosophy and his contributing to the origin of Wei-Jin period’s metaphysics are worthy of our careful study.This paper applies inductive method, analysis method, comparative method and integrated research method. He Yan, one of the representative figure of metaphysics, is analyzed from the aspects of his thoughts and his extend of life. Moreover, this paper also summarizes the metaphysics and one of its branch “Zhengshi” and deeply analyzes He Yan’s two remaining works, “Tao Theory” and “Unknown”. This paper extends the comparison between the thoughts by He Yan and Wang Bi, in which He Yan’s thoughts limitation and his contribution and Wang Bi’s transcendence of metaphysics are better analyzed and better learned. Through the comparison of the thoughts by He Yan and Wang Bi, the theme of Zhengshi is lightened and his thoughts can be conducted in academic research today. This not only enriches the content of philosophy research, but also plays an important role in understanding the development and characteristics of philosophy. This paper also enables us to understand the changes of the spirit of an era, the power to set up a huge metaphysics’ trend and their title of “rational thinking hero”.