明成祖下詔纂修《大全》，其後《大全》更成為學校教育、科舉考試的一環，使得明代士人無一不深受影響，不過隨著朝代的更替，清儒多認為《大全》是造成明代學術衰敗的關鍵，因而多責難纂修人員的編纂態度。事實上，《大全》之纂修，乃是明成祖藉此展示個人治統對道統的主宰，並非真正有意推尊道統，在此前提下，纂修人員被迫快速編成，產生的訛誤也就在所難免，此非戰之罪也。此外，本文考察《四書大全》的纂修背景與體系架構，發現明成祖的態度與纂修人員的思索，並非一致，各有不同的思維方式，儘管明成祖欲以治統收納道統，但纂修人員仍以儒者的角度，企圖表彰朱熹，推尊道統，展現儒者風範，因而《四書大全》一書，恐非以抄襲、講章之角度所能道盡，此書實是明初道統與治統之間的激盪結果。

”Encyclopaedia of the Four Books” has not only become a segment of education and civil service examination but also affected all scholars since Yongle Emperor gave the edict of compiling this work. As time goes on, however, most scholars in Qing Dynasty thought that ”Encyclopaedia of the Four Books” was the main cause of the decay of the academics in Ming Dynasty and then condemned the compiling staffs' attitude. In fact, the purpose of compiling the work was to display Yongle Emperor's own royal authority. The staffs, therefore, could not help but compile it quickly. Quick speed made many errors in the work. In this study, I will reveal the different thinking styles of Yongle Emperor and the compiling staffs through analyzing the editing background and framework of ”Encyclopaedia of the Four Books”. Although Yongle Emperor longed for restraining the Succession to the Way (daotong) by the Succession to the Dominion (zhitong), the compiling staffs still tried to take Confucianist's viewpoint to commend Zhu Xi. In fact, the process of compiling ”Encyclopaedia of the Four Books” is the debate on the Succession to the Way and Succession to the Dominion.