傳統經學詮釋有訓詁、義理之分,北宋二程的經學轉向進一步揭示出經學詮釋中的"德性"內涵。二程經學思想不啻是義理之學,更是德性之學,它包含了德性實踐和德性之知兩個維度。二程將詮釋重點從作者和文本轉向讀者,將治經問學的目的從知性理解轉向德性實踐,這就脫離了形式上的訓詁之學。同時,又指出以德性之知來接近圣人境界,進而理解圣人所作經典中蘊含的義理,這又超越了普通意義上的義理之學。注重德性實踐,從德性出發去理解經典和圣人,最后通達"天理",是二程經學思想的核心,也是兩宋"道學"或"宋明理學"不同于傳統儒家經學的關鍵所在,更是中國儒家經典詮釋思想與西方詮釋學思想的差異所在。

Traditional Confucian classical commentary distinguished between exegesis and argumentation.The Northern Song dynasty’s Cheng Brothers,Cheng Yi程頤and Cheng Hao程顥,changed this and revealed the argumentation’s moral dimension;their thought was not just a theory of argumentation but also of virtue,concerned with understanding it and with moral practice.That is to say,the Cheng Brothers shifted the focus from the authors or texts to the readers and turned the study of the classics away from intellectual understanding toward moral practice,deviating from formal exegesis.At the same time,they emphasized moral understanding as a means of approaching the realm of the Sages and of grasping the classics’argumentation,thereby transcending the sense of the common exegesis.The core of the Cheng Brothers’thought is paying attention to moral practice,understanding the classics and the Sages through virtue,and finally approaching heavenly principle(天理),which is the key distinction between the Neo-Confucianism of the Song and Ming dynasties and traditional Confucianism,as well as a difference between Chinese Confucian classical commentary and Western hermeneutics.