 Dai Zhen’s philosophy was inspired by faith in the eternality of the ancient Way, concerned with effecting the return of a moral system already established in antiquity. Yet, this return was enabled only by the examination of the historical records, which yielded a keen awareness of differentness, particularity, individuality and contingency—a historicist sensibility. Dai juxtaposed the classics (the Way/dao) and history (expediency/quan), such that historical pursuits were complementary with fundamentalist classical studies aimed at restoring ancient truths.