本文通過區分「根源」與「起源」的不同，指出陶奭齡不僅沒有如吳震與李忠達所言誤解王陽明的「良知」概念，反而更加直接地道出了陽明學關於「惡之根源」的立場，這一點劉宗周與陶奭齡並無二致。二人之不同處在於對「過、惡」的「起源」的描述。陶奭齡認為「過、惡」起源於意念這個環節，一念之不正即產生了「惡」，這就與其嚴辨「過、惡」的立場產生了罅隙。劉宗周則從人的意識中更為隱微幽暗的層面對「過、惡」之起源與生成過程進行了考察與論說，相較之下更為「徹底而窮源」，嚴密而周整，使得儒家關於「過、惡」問題的理論更為完備與系統。

Liu Zongzhou was the master of the theory of evil in the late Ming Dynasty, whose doctrine of evil is directly related to Tao Shiling, a Long-xi scholar who co-founded Zheng Ren school. However, in fact, Tao Shiling and Liu Zongzhou both attributed human evil to human’s mind-heart. In this regard, Liu Zongzhou’s views are not far from Tao Shiling’s; the difference between the two theories lies in the becoming of evil and its making-up. Tao Shiling believes that the evil originated from yi-nian. The wrongness of thoughts leads to evil, which created a gap with his strict judgements of discrimination of evil. Liu Zongzhou examined and discussed the origin of the evil from a dimmer level in human consciousness, which makes his theory of evil more comprehensive and systematic.