本篇論文中，首先借鑑日本中國學家所提出的理學「連續性思維」的概念，探討作為統治意識形態上的儒教的「絕對真理」在明、清時代的演變，在理解其中近代思想的生成與進步的同時，提出了「絕對真理」所造成的「公」在意識形態場域的統治地位和「本質主義」觀念的形成。其次，論文通過對乾隆年間「叫魂案」的梳理與分析，討論這種「絕對真理」構建下的中國各種權力階層對「公」的話語的使用，並指出這種話語場域阻礙了社會中「理性群體」的生成，更阻礙了誕生社會意識形態對少數群體權益保護的可能。第三，論文通過對既有「太平天國」研究成果的討論，通過分析諸種觀點對「太平天國」的「定性」方式（中、西，革命、保守等），分析其中隱含的「本質主義」思維，進一步提出將「太平天國」以「本質主義」方式解讀是對近代以來中西雜糅的現實的漠視而導致對中西簡單的「本質二分」。最後，論文討論了近代中國重要的「民主」與「科學」兩個看似西化的概念，試圖略微揭示其中國闡釋下的與西方所不同的特殊含義，指出這些中國概念原本就是深受中國「絕對真理」傳統思維影響的，而且這種思維在當代中國仍舊有深遠影響。

The school of principle of Japanese Sinology understands there to be a continuous principle running through philosophy. Confucianism provided a standard of absolute truth as the ruling ideology amidst changes in the Ming-Qing era and the emergence and development of modern ideas. This standard of truth brought forth an ideology of the public sphere within which essential substances could be identified. Based on an exposition and analysis of a case of soul stealing in the Qianlong era, the paper looks at how the various layers of power were able to use public discourse under the umbrella of absolute truth. The paper also argues that this sphere of absolute discourse impeded the growth of rational groups and prevented the formation of a social ideology that would be able to uphold the rights of minorities. Moving to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the use of fixed descriptions such as Chinese, Western, revolutionary or conservative applied to it, the paper looks at the implicit essentialism of these descriptions. The case of the Taiping movement shows how a muddled combination of Chinese and Western ideas leads to an oversimplified division into two essences: Chinese and Western. Finally the paper looks at the seemingly Westernised ideas of democracy and science which were important in modern China and at how China imparted a special sense to them, which was a result of China's traditional mode of absolute truth. This mode of thought still holds sway in China today.