本文將指出，目前學界之主流看法，乃將老子之「道」概念解釋為某種宇宙發生之根源或第一因，此亦即本文所謂「道」概念之形上實體說。竊以為此說或可通於《老子》個別篇章之解釋，然旁通取證時，將有不可解之困難。於此，本文皆詳細論證之。

In this paper, we point out the mainstream view of the academic circle that interprets Laozi’s Tao as the origin or first cause of some kind of cosmogony, which is what we call the metaphysical substance of the concept of “Tao”. In this paper, we argue in details that this view may explain the individual chapters of Laozi but will be confronted with insolvable difficulty as soon as we try to apply it in general.