古代中國的儒家道德價值，建立在一個具有超越性的「天命」、「天道」與「天理」的宇宙觀之上。在「天」的統攝之下，自我、社會與宇宙共同構建起一個統一的、有意義的德性世界。然而，19世紀中後期以來，晚清中國開始面對一個「三千年未有之大變局」。傳統的目的論宇宙觀（天理）逐步被現代自然科學觀，特別是晚清以來興起的達爾文進化論所瓦解。代之而起的，是一個由因果關係支配的、機械論的宇宙觀（公理）。從此，世間萬物的價值與意義，不再像以前一樣具有道德（或宗教）的超越性，而必須藉助一套可以為人們所認知和掌握的邏輯規範，通過屬人的理性實踐來予以證明。這一歷史過程，正是馬克斯．韋伯（Max Weber）所說的「祛魅」（Disenchantment），也是前現代社會走向世俗化的重要標誌。本文從世俗化這一視角，考察清末知識階層的價值轉型與道德實踐。一方面，晚清的公理世界觀不再像傳統的天理世界觀那樣，以高於人的超越方式存在，而是成為日漸自主的個人自我立法的產物；另一方面，公理又以天理的替代品的形式存在著。公理之「理」繼承了「天理」之「理」的基本品格，「公」則成為對「天」的替代。因此，「公理」在晚清既具有義理和規範的價值，又因為與道德的關聯而內涵倫理的縱深。在超越價值日漸衰微的世俗時代里，晚清的道德觀念呈現出一種內在的緊張：就前一方面而言，晚清覺醒的「個人」，率先對天理世界觀之下的儒家規範倫理（「禮」）開火。就後一方面而言，在公理世界觀之下，傳統的「德性之善」的色彩雖然明顯減弱，但是「沖决網羅」的個人依然具有公共的德性之善， 依然有著成為「好人」（ 君子之德） 的德性倫理（「仁」）。公理世界觀之下的道德觀，既構成晚清倫理和精神世界的底色，也為之後五四的道德革命與道德重建埋下了伏筆。

The Confucian morality in traditional China is based on a kind of transcendental cosmology: Heaven. From the perspective of transcendence, the self, society, and cosmos form a coherent and meaningful world while they combine with each other in a Chinese way. Nevertheless, from the late Qing period, the Chinese society began to confront a changing world that the Chinese people had never met before. Under such a new situation, the transcendental cosmology of "Tianli" was substituted by the Darwinism, a new modern thought and ideology of evolution, and a series of scientific conceptions. From then on, the value and significance of the world began to be proved under the cosmology of "Gongli", a set of logical rules and practices by the people themselves rather than the transcendental religions and moralities in pre-modern age. This transformation, which was emphasized by Max Weber, is the process of "disenchantment", and marks the appearance of a secular age in human history.From the perspective of "secularization", this research focuses on the transformation of morality and its practice of the Chinese scholars in the late Qing. On the one hand, the cosmology of "Tianli" no longer existed as a transcendental value as in traditional China. It also means a result of people's legitimacy of themselves with their own will. On the other hand, as a substitution of "Tianli", the cosmology of "Gongli" inherited the basic characteristics of "Tianli". Although "Tianli" offered a scientific framework and rule to the new age, it also had both values of ethics and morality. For this reason, the morality of the late Qing exhibited an inner tension between rationality and spirit. The confliction led to a two-way result: firstly, Confucian ethics was broken with the rise of "individualism", which appeared in the late Qing, secondly, although the new individualism fight against the Confucian ethics and was lack of transcendental value, it also had a public moral identity: "Ren". That means the morality under cosmology of "Gongli" in the late Qing not only acted as a critical role of the Chinese intellectuals history at that time, but also prepared for the moral revolution and moral reconstruction of the upcoming the May Fourth period.