在战国诸子中间存在一条以“应物”为主题的争鸣脉络，而道家引领此一风潮。《庄子》是早期阶段应物思想最重要的文本来源。在庄子之前，道家己物观已有长足发展。到庄子时，应物观点在其著作中密集出现。其中，庄子的“齐物”观点在助显认识与实践方面的己物浑一的同时，也掩蔽着“物”之于应物主体的具体现实意义；“顺物自然”指人们应当承认和保护万物的自然本性，防止因己之私心而令他者陷入异化状态；“不与物迁，命物之化”的观点，强调精神（“神”）独立于物变之外，同时也引申出以“虚而待物”为特征的接物方式。从齐物到顺物、命物，三者呈互补结构。庄子之后，后学述庄派用“外化而内不化”对内篇应物思想进行理论总结；以心神纯一不化为重点，提出“遗物离人”等精神养生法；又把体道者的无心顺物归纳为“应物无方”。与此同时，述庄派非常关心个体在现实中所面临的物变挑战，强调“不以物易己”，主张“与时俱化”“与物逶迤”。从独立物外的“外化而内不化”到现实层面的对“囿于物”“害于物”的警惕并积极化解，表明述庄派应物思想有一个从超越到现实的展开方向。相比之下，后学折衷派持更为鲜明的己物分立立场，这为其人修正“虚而待物”方法提供了可能。最后其人也探求治道之所以然，认为唯有无方之运转才能实现“应物而不穷”。总之，后学对庄子应物思想既有继承，也有发展和修正。
庄子之后，战国道家在折衷道论及形名之术基础上展开了对现实治理之道的积极谋求。值得注意的是，惠施、公孙龙等人的名实之辩促进了战国中后期形名思维的跃升与成熟，它是道家应物论得以如是开展的重要条件。首先是《管子四篇》。《内业》和《心术下》构建了以心物感通与心物一体为基础的应物论，主张“与时变而不化，应物而不移”，其内包含顺应事物随时的变化以及持守自我内心的静一不移两方面内容。此二篇思想可能受庄子影响。《心术上》主张“舍己而以物为法”的“静因之道”，它由治名纪物之术（“因之术”），与用虚心以执名务应的方法（“应之道”）共同构成，以上拓展了前两篇所不足的外部面向。《白心》在总结前三篇思想基础上反思了“名法”的有限性，进而主张更灵活的因顺之道，即在具体情境下做到“随天”与“随人”。《管子四篇》应物思想呈现出一种线索上递进、结构上互补的形态。其次，《鹖冠子》提出“序物”说，它主要通过“分物纪名”与制物以法的方式实现。“捐物任势”则是关于“序物”说的进一步论述，它指以捐弃“散而之物”、放弃宰物为前提而进行的任“和”（“势”）与任法。《鹖冠子》应物论最终走向对物之具体现象的超越和对物势的极度关切。最后，《黄帝书》认为执道者通过“审名察形”“尊理”就可做到“万物群至，我无不能应”，此为形名应物说。然此说实质是：执道者将秩序规定带入到制定新名与审定既有之名过程中，最终让万物在“名”的规定下合乎整体秩序。《黄帝书》应物论整体上与《管子四篇》有重要差异，与《鹖冠子》则有诸多一致。
《荀子》代表战国儒家应物论的最高水准，同时也对道家应物论有批判回应。荀子在批判吸收儒家内部己物观之后，以天人之分理论为基础、心道关系理论为起点，最终建构起新的应物理论。他认为正确的应物活动应当展开为两个层次，一是内在层面的“不为物倾”，二是对外的“宗原应变”。荀子从心之认知活动和德性方面讨论了“不为物倾”的达成方式。“宗原应变”则是以礼义为根据去应对事物的变化。“宗原应变”说既是对道家“应物无方”说的回应，也是超越。
随后《韩非子》《吕氏春秋》对诸子应物思想进行会通与总结。《韩非子》应物论的整体结构是聚焦君道问题以阐发治理之道，主要思路是从“道尽稽万物之理”的道理关系出发到人君的守道、顺物之理（“尽随于万物之规矩”）。顺物之理具体又落实为形名应物说。韩非将道家应物论与荀子基本应物思想融通为一，此具有理论总结性质。《吕氏春秋》的总结则是以《庄子》为主，从治心（修养或教化）、治道（治理理论）两方面吸收各家应物思想。战国应物论经此落幕。
战国应物论的发展大致分为三个阶段。根据理论背后的人、物存在关系思维，或学说重点、重心的不同，诸子应物论可分别划分为四种类型。它们共同表明了战国应物论的两大发展趋势：一是学说重点由“治心”向“治道”转变，二为理性化趋势。宏观而论，战国应物论史从侧面展示了百家争鸣乃至整个中国早期思想史上未曾被充分重视的某些方面。“应物”是我们理解早期思想的重要基点。

Among the scholars of the Warring States period, there existed a theoretical clue with the theme of “Ying Wu”(“应物”). Taoism led this trend of thought. Zhuangzi is the most important textual source of the early stage of “Ying Wu”(“应物”). Before Zhuangzi, the Taoism self- Wu view had already had a great development. The view of “Ying Wu”(“应物”) appeared intensively in the works of Zhuangzi. Among them, Zhuangzi's view of “Qi Wu”(“齐物”) helps to show the unity of self-Wu in cognition and practice, but also hides the concrete significance of “Wu”（“物”） to the people. “Following nature of Wu”（“顺物”） means that the ruler should recognize and protect the natural of all things and prevent oneself from causing others to fall into a state of alienation due to selfishness; The view of “not moving with things, maintain dominance in front of all things”（“不与物迁，命物之化”） emphasizes that spirit (“神”) is independent of things, and also extends the way of contacting with all things characterized by “empty and waiting for things”（“虚而待物”）. From “Qi Wu”(“齐物”) to “following nature of Wu”（“顺物”） and “maintain dominance in front of all things”（“命物”）, the three forms a complementary structure. After Zhuangzi, Shu-Zhuang School（“述庄派”） used “maintaining inner stability in the face of changes in all things”（“外化而内不化”） to carry on a theoretical summary of the thought of Zhuangzi, with the focus on the spirit of unity, put forward “stay away from all things”（“遗物离人”） and other spiritual health methods, and summarize the “Ying Wu without fixed method”(“应物无方”). At the same time, the Shu-Zhuang School（“述庄派”） was very concerned about the challenges of the change of things faced by the individual in the external reality, emphasizing “not changing oneself with things”（“不以物易己”） and advocating “keep up with changes”（“与时俱化”） and “maintain surface consistency with others”（“与物逶迤”）. From the “maintaining inner stability in the face of changes in all things”（“外化而内不化”） to vigilance and solutions regarding “being trapped in Wu” and “being harmed by Wu”, it shows that there is a direction from transcendence to reality. In contrast, the Eclectic School（“折衷派”） had a more distinct stand on the separation of their own and things, which provided the possibility for them to revise the method of “empty and waiting for things”（“虚而待物”）. Finally, they also explored the basis of political theory, believing that only non fixed operations can achieve “eternal and correct contact with all things”（“应物而不穷”）.On the whole, students has inherited, developed and modified Zhuangzi's thought of the “Ying Wu”(“应物”).   
After Zhuangzi, Taoism in the Warring States began to actively seek the way of realistic governance on the basis of the eclectic Tao（“道”） and the art of “Xing Ming”（“形名”）. It is worth noting that the debate between name and reality by Hui Shi, Gongsun Long, and others promoted the maturity of name and reality thinking in the mid to late Warring States period. It is an important condition for the development of Taoism thought in this way. First of all, in the Four Chapters of Guanzi（“《管子四篇》”）, “Nei Ye”（“《内业》”） and “Xinshu Xia” （“《心术·下》”）, they construct the theory of the “Ying Wu”(“应物”) based on the integration and connection between the heart and all things, advocating “keep up with the times, but keep your heart unchanged”(“与时变而不化，应物而不移”), which contains two aspects: adapting to the changes of things at any time and maintaining the stillness of one's own heart. These two thoughts may be influenced by Zhuangzi. “Xinshu Shang”（“《心术·上》”） advocates the “abandoning subjectivity and following the laws of all things”（“舍己而以物为法”）, which is composed of the technique of naming and managing things and quietly using Name（“名”）, which expands the external aspect of the shortcomings of the first two chapters. On the basis of summarizing the thoughts of the first three chapters, “Baixin” (“《白心》” ) reflects on the finiteness of “Ming Fa”（“名法”）, and then advocates a more flexible path of “following the Tian” and “following the people” under specific circumstances. The thought of “Ying Wu”(“应物”) in “Four Chapters of Guanzi”（“《管子四篇》”） presents a form of progressive clue and complementary structure. Secondly, “Heguanzi”（“《鹖冠子》”） puts forward the theory of “ordering things”（“序物”）, which is mainly realized through naming all things and managing them with the law. “abandoning specific things and following the trend”（“捐物任势”） is a further discussion on the theory of “ordering things”（“序物”）, which refers to ：by giving up on exploring endless things and giving up on dominating things, one can follow the trend and the law. “Heguanzi”（“《鹖冠子》”） eventually leads to the transcendence of the concrete phenomena and the extreme concern about the trend. Finally, the “Huang Di Shu”（“《黄帝书》”） believes that “a person who has mastered the Tao”（“执道者”） can achieve a perfect “Ying Wu”(“应物”) by examining the Name（“名”） and Xing（“形”）, respecting the law, which is the theory of “Xing Ming”（“形名”） to “Ying Wu”(“应物”). But the essence of this argument is that “a person who has mastered the Tao”（“执道者”） brings the rules of order into the process of making new names and validating existing ones, and finally makes all things conform to the whole order under the rules of Name（“名”）. In addition, there are some important differences between “Huang Di Shu”（“《黄帝书》”）and “Four Chapters of Guanzi”（“《管子四篇》”） on the whole, and there are many similarities between “Huang Di Shu”（“《黄帝书》”） and “Heguanzi”（“《鹖冠子》”）. 
Xunzi represents the highest level of the thought of “Ying Wu”(“应物”) of Confucianism in the Warring States, which also contains an important response to the theory of “Ying Wu”(“应物”) of Taoism. After criticizing and absorbing the relationship between self and thing within Confucianism and the perspective of “Ying Wu”(“应物”), based on the theory of the division of Tian and man and the relation theory of heart and Tao, he finally constructed a systematic theory of “Ying Wu”(“应物”). Xunzi believes that the reasonable relationship between self and thing should be developed into two important levels, one is the internal level of the individual “not swayed by things”（“不为物倾”）, and the other is the external “adhere to principles and respond to changes”（“宗原应变”）. Xunzi discussed the way to achieve “not swayed by things”（“不为物倾”） from the cognitive and moral perspectives. “adhere to principles and respond to changes”（“宗原应变”） means to deal with the changes of things according to the rites. His theory of “adhere to principles and respond to changes”（“宗原应变”） was not only a response to the theory of “Ying Wu without fixed method”(“应物无方”) from Zhuangzi School, but also a transcendence. 
In the late Warring States period, Han Feizi and Lv's Commentaries of History respectively carried on the theoretical understanding and the final summary of the “Ying Wu”(“应物”) of Taoism and Confucianism. The theory of “Ying Wu”(“应物”) came to an end. The whole structure of the theory of “Ying Wu”(“应物”) in Han Feizi focuses on the question of the king's way to explain the way of state governance. The main idea is to start from the Tao and the relationship between the “Li”（“理”） to the king's keeping the Tao and following the rules of all things. The king following the rules of all things, it is specifically achieved through “The Theory of Ying Wu with Xing Ming”（“形名应物论”）. Han Fei integrated the theory of Taoism with the basic ideas of Xunzi into one. The theoretical summary of Lv's Commentaries of History is based on Zhuangzi, absorbing the thoughts of different thinkers from the two aspects of spiritual cultivation (personality cultivation or bildung) and governance theory. 
The development of the Yingwu thought of the Warring States period philosophers can be roughly divided into three stages. According to the thinking of the relationship between human and Wu behind the theory, as well as the different emphasis and focus of the theory, the theory can be divided into four types. They collectively indicate two major development trends of the theory: one is the transition from “spiritual cultivation” to “governing theory” in the theme (the focus of the transition from self to things), and the other is the trend of rationalization. In general, the history of the theory of “Ying Wu”(“应物”) in the Warring States shows from the side some aspects of the whole early Chinese thought that have not been fully paid attention to. In a sense, “Ying Wu”(“应物”) can be used as an important basis for us to understand the early Chinese thought.