Wang Yangming
Holding to Confucius and Mencius' conception of humanity as innately good, Zhu Xi articulated an understanding of "li" as the basic pattern of the universe, stating that it was understood that one couldn't live without "li" and live an exemplary life. Wang Yangming, a philosopher who opposed Zhu Xi's ideas, held that "li" was to be found not in the world but within oneself. Wang Yangming was thus more of an idealist with a different epistemic approach. However In the practice of Traditional Chinese medicine the endogenous and exogenous interpretations of these two philosophical ideas are not seen as mutually exclusive.