The correct positioning of the historical status and theoretical implications of Li Yong’s philosophical thinking is not possible without incorporating them into the whole process of the development of Chinese philosophical thinking and the historical process of the development of Li Yong’s own thinking. In this paper, we concentrate on the developmental transformations of Li Yong’s philosophical thinking and it’s relationships with the Dong Lin School, the Guan School of the Song Neo-Confucianism, and the philosophy of realism, in order to make a general criticism of the theoretical contributions and implications of his philosophy.