郝敬礼学思想是在晚明实学思潮大背景下展开的,他以本质主义的视角重新审视了传统礼经学,提出“《周礼》、《仪礼》非经”等新主张。他极重日常之礼对于德性的培育,认为学礼即是学道。郝敬不但是一位礼学思想家,而且致力于以礼治民,以礼化乡,以礼治家,他以自己的礼学实践诠释了礼学传承之中的变古适今与通经致用。
Haojing's Lixue thoughts was based on the background of the country-governing theories in the late Ming. He re-examined the traditional Lixue classics in accordance with the essentialism perspective and put forward the new proposition "Zhouli and Yili is out of he Lixue classics" He attached great importance to the daily rituals for moral cultivation, thought that to learn ritual is to learn Tao. Haojing was not only a lixue thinker, however, he committed to rule the people with moral enlightenment in the rural governance. He explained in the ritual practices what were the Changing ancient heritage in order to facilitate future generations and the thought of "being well versed in Confucian classics and Putting them into Practice", or Tong Jing zhi Yong.