 In later, pre-modern critical approaches to philosophical thought, it was exposed that even though names do not comprise the meanings of an original Heavenly essence, they should not be regarded as arbitrary; the naming of reality has to be performed in accordance with the objective and generally valid principles. The prime innovation in this regard was Dai Zhen’s (1724–1777) emphasis on the concept of the “exhaustive comprehension of concrete facts (actualities) (jinqi shi 盡其實)” per­tain­ing to the reality we seek to comprehend (Xia 1996b: 417).