朱子對孟子盡心章的注釋之重點，在於他認爲「知性」在先，而後能「盡其心」。朱子此一對孟子之詮釋，與其對五峰學的反省與批評大有關係。在胡五峰的看法裡，「盡心」是心完全實現其作用，而此時性體亦得以充分朗現，所以沒有知性與盡心的先後問題。而朱子反對這種看法，其視性爲理，及盡心作爲對性理的完全認知的把握，在此意義底下，「知性」在先，而「盡心」在後。藉此區分，本文試圖去概括出幾個宋明儒學對於盡心義的不同型態。

The core of Chu Hsi’s interpretation of the Chapter I，Book VII of Mencius consists in his assertion of the priority of 'Knowledge of Nature* to 'Exhaustion of Mind’. This assertion may be an outcome of Chu Hsi’s examination of Hu Wu Feng's view on this very topic. In Hu’s view, ‘Exhaustion of Mind’ is the realization of the 'Nature', so there is no ’priority’ problem between ‘Knowledge of Nature’ and ‘Exhaustion of Mind’ Against this view, Chu regarded ’Nature, as ‘li’ and ’Exhaustion of Mind’ as a complete grasp of ‘li’. In this sense, ‘Knowledge of Nature’ is prior to the ‘Exhaustion of Mind’. With this distinction, this essay attempts to clarify the relations and difference between the main schools of ‘li hsueh’ of Sung Dynasty.