本文就學術界關術中國先秦之五行比古希臘恩培多克勒之「四元素」少「氣」而多「金」、「木」，亦並非是當時希臘缺少「先進的冶煉技術」和「對種植業的重視」所造成，而是因為中國先秦的五行並非恩氏在嚴格意義上所使用的作為萬物之本的元素之概念。至宋代後，中國哲人才從萬物本原的角度解釋五行，與恩氏的元素思想暗合，中西哲學在此步入一途。

　　　　　This paper is on the claim made by the academic circle about why the Prechin Chinese “Wu Xing” doesn't include the “air” of the Greek “four elements” but have the “metal” and “wood” that the “four elements” backs. We point out that the lack of air in “Wu Xing” is neither due to the fact that the geographic environments and life style of China are different from the ones of Greece, nor is it due to the idea that “Liu Shu” belongs to the heaven while “Wu Xing” belongs to the earth. The lack of “metal” and “wood” doesn't result from the absence of sophisticated alchemy or the appreciation of planting on the side of Greece, but results from that “Wu Xing” is not conceived as the elements of nature. It is not until the Sung Dynasty that Chinese philosophers started to see “Wu Xing” as the nature of the creation, implicitly assimilating with the Greek idea of the elements of nature; ever since then, Chinese and Western philosophies stepped on the same path.