在儒家生生伦理学系统中，智性分别担负着外识和内识的双重功能。所谓外识，即是对于与道德相关的外部对象的认识；所谓内识，即是对于内觉的再认识。外识和内识缺一不可，属于相互为须的关系。因为在儒家生生伦理学中有智性、欲性、仁性三个要素，所以分别有智性维度的内识、欲性维度的内识和仁性维度的内识。重视智性维度的内识对于确定智性维度内觉的真实性、解决论证无穷倒退的困难、解决思维之"在"到实体之"在"的过渡问题、证明智性具有时间性和空间性有着重要作用。强调智性维度内识之重要，是儒家生生伦理学必不可少的一个理论环节。

In the system of Confucian ethics of unceasing growth, reason undertakes the dual functions of inward cognition and outward cognition. The so-called outward cognition is the knowledge of external moral objects, while the so-called inward cognition is the re-recognition of inward consciousness. Both inward cognition and outward cognition are indispensable and interdependent. In the theory of Confucian ethics of unceasing growth, inward cognition embraces three different dimensions of desire, reason and humanness. The inward cognition of reason plays an important role in determining the authenticity of the inward rational consciousness, solving infinite regress, realizing the transition from the "being" of thinking to the "being" in actuality, and proving the spatio-temporality of reason. The inward cognition of reason is essential to the theoretical construction of Confucian ethics of unceasing growth.