Chen notes that what Laozi represents is the holistic Chinese mode of thinking embracing heaven, earth and man. For the Chinese there was no schism between metaphysics and the experiential world, and in fact the concepts of nonbeing, darkness and emptiness, with which Laozi described the essential nature of the Way, actually closely fit human life. "His metaphysics were conceived in response to the needs of human life and politics."
陳鼓應指出，老子代表的是中國天、地、人整體性的思維方式，中國形上學與經驗世界並非分裂的，老子描述道體無、玄、虛的概念，其實與人生切合，「其形上學是應合人生政治的要求而臆設的。」