在漢末儒教危機的歷史條件下,黃老道家得以復興，以形名學與養生學活躍於社會 批判思潮和早期道教中，並在建安時期戰亂的特殊環境中一度成為曹魏意識形態的主流。 但是儒家學說已在中國社會扎根，黃老道家無法取而代之，故儒、道兩家的思想差異引起 了思想界關注；如何使之融為一體，成為當時最重要的時代課題。經過曹魏前期幾代思想 家的努力，到正始時期誕生了以儒道融合為特徵的早期玄學，其中黃老形名學與養生學分別 與儒家倫理結合，形成了貴無論和元氣自然論兩大玄學流派。這一學術思潮變化的底蘊，是 魏漢之際士人文化性格中儒家社會倫理與道家個性自由雙重化過程，經歷了漢末名士、建安 名士和正始名士具有明顯繼承關係的三代士人才基本完成。

　　　　　The Huanglao Taoist school 黃老道家revived when Confucianism faced a crisis at the end of the Han dynasty. This school developed from Huanglao's logic and the theory of conserving vital power. It played a key role in criticism by society and even once became the mainstream ideology of the Cao-Wei 曹魏 era during the chaotic wars of the Jian-an 建安 reign. Nevertheless, because Confucianism was so deeply rooted in Chinese society, Huanglao Taoism was unable to fully replace it. The intellectuals were greatly concerned about the differences between Confucianism and Taoism and the most important academic dilemma was how to combine the two school of thoughts.After much effort the thinkers of the Cao-Wei period developed the early form of Neo-Taoist玄學 thought which combined Taoism and Confucianism. Huanglao's logic and the theory of conserving vital power was intermingled with Confucian ethics to respectively form the characteristics of the two Neo-Taoist schools of thought:nihilism and natural vitality. The essence of this thought transformation stemmed from the inclusion of the Confucian social ethics and the Taoist stress on individual freedom into the cultural disposition of the intellectuals of that time. This was basically completed by the last three generations (the end of the Han dynasty as well as the Jian-an and Zhengshi 正始 periods) of intellectuals as they inherited and developed the former generation's thought.