我們的主題是從多瑪斯哲學和莊子哲學出發，探索它們在什麼樣的意義上去看待「一切事物皆是美」的這種思維，在此兩種哲學體系異同的對照當中，促進我們關於東西方文化對「美」的問題的更深刻之理解。多瑪斯哲學向我們提示，超越屬性是存有的價值，美則是存有的超越屬性之一，與存有具有同樣的外延，是以使存有者成為存有者的存有，也使存有者成為美；在莊子哲學中，道是萬物生成的原則，無一物不由道生成，道之外一無所有，既然沒有任何一物能夠迴避它，而道自體本身就是美，那麼由之而成的萬物亦是美。由於多瑪斯哲學以存有的價值來表述美的這種普遍性，而價值相關於作為價值主體的人，以此考量，美與善的關係更為親近（以人的價值而論，美等同於善，皆為人之所欲），且多瑪斯對於有關人的美的價值也採取肯定的態度，發展到藝術創作上，技術則含有實用層面，它是實現多種多樣地分享超越屬性之美的手段；莊子則由作為「全體存在界之真理」的道出發，真即是美，以道觀之，他對於人世間相對的價值如美醜、是非等子以直接否定，這種態度發展到藝術創作上，使受到莊學影響的藝術家傾向於擺脫技術的實用層面，而直接在技中見道，因而崇尚「樸素、澹然」這類的美感，受其哲學影響甚深的中國文人藝術即以「平淡」、「天真」為最高之藝術理想，當可為例。

This paper makes a comparison between the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas and Zhuangzi, exploring in what sense they illustrated the idea that everything in the world is beautiful. Through this comparison we may gain a deeper understanding of beauty in Western and Chinese culture.Thomas Aquinas’s philosophy shows us that beauty is a transcendental of being, and it can be attributed to one value of being, and since being makes all things become beings, it also makes all things beautiful. In Zhuangzi, the Dao is the creative and generative principle of all things, and nothing, as long as it exists, can avoid the Dao. The Dao itself is beautiful and thus everything that derives from and is formed by it is beautiful.Thomas Aquinas achieves this universality of beauty through value of being, and since value is always concerned with its subject-the human being, as a consequence, beauty is bound tightly to goodness, for in terms of the value of the human being, beauty, as a value, can be identical with goodness, which is something always desired. Thomas Aquinas looks positively towards the value of the human being, and hence approves the value of beauty in regard to the human being. This position leads to an emphasis on skill when creating an artwork, because skill is an important means to realize participation in transcendental beauty. Skill, therefore, carries in itself a practical character. Compared to Thomas Aquinas, Zhuangzi's beauty is related more to truth than to goodness, because the Dao, as the ultimate truth of all beings in the world, is true and at the same time beautiful. He believes that all values concerning human beings are relative, such as beauty and ugliness, and right and wrong. Seen from the perspective of the Dao, he disapproves of all human values, and this position directs him to disregard the practical character of skill in creating. As a result, the skill he demands is the skill which one employs to achieve the Dao. Therefore, Chinese artists, influenced strongly by Zhuangzi, were inclined to free themselves from the practical character of skill and directly sought the Dao in skill; they eventually developed a unique ideal and taste for art the 'plain' and 'bland'.