本文以「去形上化」作為主軸來討論清初學術思想的一個特色，因為有這一個特色， 所以清初思想家看社會與自然的眼光皆產生變化。文章分成五部份：第一部份藉「寶珠」或 「種子」兩種觀念來說明先天預成式人性論之式微。第二部份是以四書（特別是《學》、 《庸》）地位之下降說明形上玄遠之學的衰褪。第三是以江浙心學社群之去形上化來說明此 一現象。第四是由樸素的原始儒家哲學的興起來說明形上玄遠思想之沒落。第五部份則由清 初程朱陸王兩派皆顯現的「去形上化」來證明這一趨勢的普遍性。

　　　　　I argue that there was a "metaphysical crisis" in seventeenth-century China. After this event, the ways in which Chinese thinkers perceived of nature and society were diametrically different from their predecessors. Specifically, Chinese thinkers gave up on the transcendental thinking of Neo-Confucianism and propagated mundane worldly values. This change in thinking was understood as a kind of philosophical breakthrough. I also discuss how this intellectual tendency led to a transevaluation of the Neo-Confucian interpretation of Confucian classics. Several of the quasi-canon glossaries of these Confucian classics were strongly criticized. The criticisms of scholars such a Yen Jo-ch'u. Hu Wei, and others, were instrumental in reshaping the intellectual world of the seventeenth-century and significantly contributed to the Ch'ing evidential research movement.