Research On The Enlightenment Thoughts Of Li Zhi

Li Zhi(1527-1602)was an “early enlightenment thinker” in the late Ming Dynasty.He was born to a Hui family in Quanzhou,Fujian Province.With his unique perspective,he criticized the concepts of inequality and freedom in Neo-Confucianism and despotism in the Song and Ming Dynasties,trying to awaken the “Zhen” thought and the “Zhen” spirit in people’s hearts so as to explore the value of equality and freedom to individuals and society.His think has played a great enlightening role in the emancipation of thinking in later generations.Li Zhi lashed out at the hypocrisy and ugliness of neo-confucianists in the Song and Ming dynasties,revealing the oppression of the essence of human freedom by autocratic rule.He criticized the concept of inequality in Confucianism,based on the talent of “wisdom” and “knowledge” of human beings,and advocated that “there is no man in the world who cannot do anything”.He boldly preached “selfish desire” and believed that even saints cannot be completely “selfless” and “everyone can be holy”.These ideas of his changed from demonstrating the natural equality of human beings to the equality of personality,and then deepened to the level of equality between men and women,which had a great impact on the prevailing concepts of “preserving natural principles,eliminating human desires” and “men being superior to women”.Li Zhi advocated “one person is born,one uses his own” and “the sage is not right or wrong” in view of the fixed thinking of “Zhong Ni is not born in heaven,and all ages are like long nights” on the basis of Childlike Innocence to promote personal freedom and ideological freedom.These thoughts of Li Zhi marked “the beginning of self-criticism in feudal society” and “the rise of early Enlightenment thoughts”.Li Zhi’s thought had far-reaching influence.At that time and the later generations,scholars did not read the Four Books and the Five Classics,but everyone has a Burning Book on his hand.Some scholars even wrote articles in the name of Li Zhi to vent their dissatisfaction with autocracy and Taoism.Jiao Hong,Feng Menglong,Tang Xianzu and other thinkers and writers who are at the same time as Li Zhi were deeply influenced by him.In the works of Gu Yanwu,Wang Fuzhi and Dai Zhen,we can also see the aftertone about Li Zhi’s thought.