The essence of Zhu Xi's doctrine of "to investigate things is to attain knowledge"from the challenge of Zhang Yinlin

The doctrine of investigate things is to attain knowledgeis the important one within Zhu Xi'category system of Neo-Confucianism.With the passage of time, many people have tried to interpreted it. In the 1930s,historian Zhang Yinlin,from the method of conducting study,challenged the rationality of this doctrine in commentary on Feng Youlan's The Chinese History of Philosophy.In fact this doctrine is related to the ontology of Neo-Confucianism.The things refered to ethical relations,and the knowledge refered to the knowledge of moral good.The final target of this doctrine tried to help people to regain the innate ethical values,which were the standard for man to settle down and get on with his work. Thereby, within this doctrine, the epistemology is in concord with the self-cultivation on target.