The Ontological Study of the Pre-Qin Confucianist and Taoist Philosophy

In the study of Chinese philosophy, more importance has long been given to the original place of the Pre-Qin Taoist “Dao” in Chinese philosophical history than to the philosophical thoughts of the “Dao” of Confucius, the initiator of the Confucianist philosophy. It is claimed in this paper that “Dao” is the common core of Confucius’ and Lao Zi’s philosophy, referring to the origin, essence and nature of the universe and all things in it, that “Dao” is both a material and a spiritual entity, with chaos, flexibility, yin and yang being the important categories to represent its ontological features; and that “Dao” is the logical starting-point of “harmonious nature” in classical Chinese aesthetics as well as the ontological basis for the “compatibility of heaven and man” notion.