《易經》的復卦提出了一個「天地之心」，儒家對這個天地之心作出了倫理學的發揮，認為仁愛是天地的根本。人來到世間就要找回上天賦予的仁愛之心。對此儒家在繫辭中說：回歸到仁愛之心是修養德行的根本，而要回到本來的仁愛之心，就要能自我反省，改正錯誤，不讓本性為私欲蒙蔽。由於所處的時間、地位以及與外界的關係不同，儒家們又從他們一貫主張的中庸思想出發，對人在回歸本性時的各個階段的特點做出了分析，並提出了告誡。這樣儒家就以《易經》為理論依據，從本體論、認識論和方法論三個方面對復卦的內容作出了發揮，從而建立和闡述了自己以仁為本的倫理學說。

The Confucians thought that benevolence was the root of the universe while the "Fu" in Yi Jing expressed this idea. They thought people were supposed to find the benevolence given by heaven when they came to the world. Then they wrote in Xi Ci: benevolence is the basis of virtue. If one wishes to find benevolence, he or she should introspect and correct his mistakes, not letting his or her selfishness cover his nature. Because of the differences in time, place, relationships, using the way of the Mean, the Confucians not only instructed people on how to try to return to their nature but also analyzed the characteristics of each stage on their way to their nature. Thus, based on the theory of Yi Jing and from the perspectives of the ontology, epistemology and methodology, the Confucians developed and expounded their ideas of ethics, which were grounded in benevolence.