 Confucians in the Song-Ming period adopted from the Mencius a general framework for the acquisition of ethical knowledge, according to which there are certain paradigm scenarios or cases (e.g., when seeing a child about to fall into a well or when food is given with contempt) that elicit reliably good or virtuous responses, but many other cases which do not. As Mencius describes his goal there, the goal is to “extend” (tui 推) or expand the reliable ethical judgments and emotional responses from those paradigm scenarios to the new ones (Mencius 2A6, 6A10). In the Mencius that is done in part by noticing relevant similarities between cases, as when one sees that accepting a bribe for a special favor is self-debasing and shameful in ways similar to accepting food given with contempt, or the treatment due to seniors in general is similar to the respect we already give to our own elders (Mencius 1A7, 6A10; Van Norden 2007: 234–246). Confucians in the Song through Ming tend to characterize the acquisition of new moral knowledge similarly, often invoking the Mencian notion of “extension”. Zhu Xi adds that we acquire new moral knowledge in part by seeing how a rule or norm to which we should conform fits into a larger system of norms that sustain a system of mutual life-generativity (a system in which life, growth, and reproduction are ongoing and reciprocal). This is part of what he describes as discerning the “reasons why it is so” (suoyi ran zhi gu 所以然之故), and is necessary for a deeper understanding of rules or norms that we otherwise take on faith or confidence in the tradition (ZZYL 18:625; Angle &amp; Tiwald 2017: 122–129).