玄學追求儒、道融合，試圖將名教與自然結合起來。玄學家雖有「名教出於自然」「越名教而任自然」的不同主張，但是均強調自然高於名教。宋代理學家復興儒學，吸收了玄學將名教之禮與自然之理結合起來的思想。與玄學家將名教訴之自然不同，他們堅持從人文的名教之禮中引申出天理，並強調人文之禮即為天理之自然。理學家提出「禮即理」，努力從本末體用方面化解「名教之禮」與「自然之理」的緊張和衝突。

Neo-Taoism struggled to syncretize Confucianism and Taoism, trying to combine ritual emphasized by the Confucian ethical code with principle of Nature. There are two different opinions advocated by metaphysicians, “the Confucian ethical code stemming from nature” and “getting over the Confucian ethical code but letting the nature at ease”, all tend to highlight Natural principle more than the Confucian ethical code. To renew Confucianism, idealists in the Song dynasty assimilated Neo-Taoism’s combination. Nevertheless, instead of attributing Confucian ethical to Nature, like metaphysicians did, they attempted to extend Heavenly Principle from ritual of the Confucian ethical code, and underlined that the ritual naturally conformed to Heavenly Principle. Therefore, Neo-Confucianism appeared to pay more attention to Heavenly Principle than ritual, though ritual is natural Heavenly Principle actually. By proposing “ritual is Heavenly Principle”, Confucianism neutralized the tension and conflict between “ritual of the Confucian ethical code” and “Principle of Nature”, which were reflected in the following opposite concepts: being or non-being, ins and outs, essence and function.