A Study On Wang Chong's Theory Of Atheism

Wang Chong is a famous philosopher and atheist in the Eastern Han Dynasty,whose ideas play an important role in the ancient Chinese philosophy.In the Eastern Han Dynasty,Confucian theology and superstition of ghost prevailed.In this situation,Wang Chong built his ideology of relatively systemic atheism,in order to awaken the public,break people's blind faith in Confucian theology and superstition of ghost,lead people back to the reality and promote the normalization of social life.This paper aims at revealing the integral conflicts of Wang Chong's ideology system and its historic influence by means of discussing the background of Wang Chong's atheism and the main content of his ideology system.The main content of this paper can be summarized as follows.Firstly,introducing the historical background and the origin of Wang Chong's thoughts,analyzing historical conditions and academic background of the formation of his atheism.Second,elaborating the theoretical basis of Wang Chong's atheism.Wang Chong's ideology is based on natural law,admitting natural inaction,believing that Qi is the origin of everything in the world and the process of creation is natural,and thus he put forward the idea of "nature creates life" and "fatalism".Based on this,he proposes the view of natural life and death as well as his theory about physique and spirit.Third,stating the main content of Wang Chong's atheism.Wang Chong put forward his "atheism",claiming that "people will not become the ghost after they dead" through disclosing the harms of theism and criticizing superstition and feudal taboos.Last,revealing the integral conflicts of Wang Chong's atheism and analyzing the historical and practical influence of his atheism ideology.