汤显祖因为戏曲创作在他的时代脱颖而出，而对汤显祖而言，这远非其进行创作的结点所在。其代表作《牡丹亭》从一开始就立足于严肃生命意义的探讨，与当时的文人戏曲创作趣味大相径庭。他的创作削弱了戏剧的娱乐性，从而突出了剧本的“文学化”，这对于以演出为生命的传统戏曲来说当然是一种反叛，对汤显祖而言则更多意味着一种信仰价值的确立和追认，与一己之生存状态密不可分。从他的戏曲创作、戏曲理论以及“作文”观念来看，一个新的“有情世界”的图景已经在他的创作文本和生活理想当中徘徊，仅此而已。因此在汤显祖的戏曲文本当中所明确提出来的“道”只是一个功能概念，虽有雷霆之声，而影响实在有限。而如果回到以万历社会为代表的晚明社会，他却是一个颇具代表性的人物。他所遭遇的种种冲突，表面上看来是源于个性的狂傲，实际上与当时思想界流行的“豪杰之圣”有血脉之亲。正是在他的身上，我们可以看到阳明学流布后的一种生存状态。的确反映出了阳明学说歧出传统儒学的内驱力。毫无疑问，社会风气已经发生了变化，阳明学对知识分子的影响也越来越深入，而在人们接受或者说受影响的过程当中，个人的迷误和反省也始终在进行。因此对晚明思潮的定位仍然需要做进一步的分疏。

This paper attempts a look at the late Ming thoughts centering on T’ang Hsien-tsu and his works. The logic of this paper’s discussion is: starting with THE PEONY PAVILION, it explores his drama theories, and further his composition conceptions, and finally situates him in the late Ming society for examination. T’ang Hsien-tsu was known for his composition in his times, however, this point meanst nothing to him, except for pursuing for the significance of his internal life, which was differed from his counterpart. In his composition, entertainment was contracted , literary description was highlighted, which meant to betray the discipline of traditional opera. While for T’ang Hsien-tsu, that is a progress he made to recognize and testified his belief. Scrutiny on his opera , drama theories and composition concepts, we found a new world hovering in it ,regretfully, that is all. Clearly, tao is just a kind of functional concept ,though it may creative , the influence was limited. Whatever, put him into the late Ming literati, he is typical. What he had suffered was factually related to the “xia” populated in the literati circle. His experience witnessed the existence and spread of post-yangming, furthermore, it indeed testified that yangming stands out of the Confucianism. Undoubtedly, the atmosphere of the society has changed, the influence of Yangming became deeper and deeper. During this process, the misunderstanding and meditation happened all the time. Consequently, more analysis needed to be done concerning on late Ming.