 No harm, that is, in terms of whatever levels of generality are necessary for communicative clarity (e.g., “bird”, “animal”), up to the broadest level of generality (“thing”). Like the Mohists, Xunzi’s theory of inference is based on the notion that a model must serve as a standard of resemblance: naming an object is like “measuring an unknown length by a footrule”. He was therefore inclined to draw inferences in much the same way. The assertion “x is an animal” is a valid inference from the claim “x resembles the model m for animal” on the assumption that anything resembling m is an animal.