荻生徂徠認為自思孟以下，先王之道降而為儒家者流，從主「行」轉而為主「言」，其實質是儒學從經學轉為子學。通過比較六經之教與儒家者流的兩種言，徂徠批評儒家言是一種與外人爭訟、深究禮樂之形上根據、離禮而直接求義的空言議論。這種判定的關鍵更在於言說方式或文體。通過分別經、傳記、儒家言三種文體，徂徠判定儒家者流以議論（言）為基礎來構築整個義理系統，理學家更將講道理的議論之言誤認為工夫指點語，從而無法擺脫空言議論的底色。徂徠的經子關係論與章學誠之說相近，但也有別。徂徠的儒學批評容有偏頗，但也啟發人們重審議論之邏輯與工夫之邏輯的內在關係，議論的意義和位置，以及經子之辯等重要問題。

Ogyu Sorai argued that ever since Zisi and Mengzi, the former king’s way decayed to turn into the Confucianism, namely, transformed from “behaviors” oriented to “words” oriented, which essentially transformed from Confucianism as Jing Xue to Confucianism as Zi Xue. Through the three styles of Jing, interpretations and Confucianism respectively, Ogyu Sorai argued that Confucianism constructed the whole system on the basis of discourse or words, and the Neo-confucianists mistook the reasonable discourse for the words that advising Kung-fu, thus unable to get rid of the background color of abstract words. Ogyu Sorai’s theory inspires people to reconsider some problem, such as the internal relationship between the logic of theory and the logic of Kung-fu, and the relationship between Jing Xue and Zi Xue.