魏晉時期哲學家王弼、郭象與宋明時期哲學家朱熹、王陽明，四人之哲學系統中皆有其存有學脈絡。王弼透過本末關係論的經典詮釋方法來建構其普遍存有學的本體論；朱熹透過「體用論」，以體用關係來建構其心性存有論；郭象承繼王弼名教出於自然的崇本舉末，本末一貫，守母以存子的名教與自然調合理論，並透過「性各有分」、「適性逍遙」的性命之理來論述其性命存有論；王陽明以「真己」之實存性的道德自我之論述，來說明其道德存有論。而四者之間，皆有其承繼關係。

Ontology somehow acted as a background for the philosophies of Wang Bi and Guo Xiang from the Wei-Jin Period and Xhu Xi and Wang Yang-ming from the Soong and Ming Dynasties. Wang Bi constructed the ontology of his doctrine of being through the classical approach of “roots and ends”. Zhu Xi constructed his ontology of mind-nature through the theory of body and function. Guo Xiang carried on Wang’s theory about the natural harmony between scholasticism and nature—“revering the roots while reaching the ends,” the “consistency between roots and ends” and “preserving the beginnings while saving the ends”—while stating his ontology of life through the idea of “by nature each person having their own lot.” Wang Yang-ming explained his moral ontology through the existence of “true selves.” We can see how one inherited another’s philosophy between the four of them, and this article is meant to clarify the historical issue of how metaphysics transformed itself into the context of Neo-Confucianism.