 A Neo-Confucian master of the Ming dynasty, Wang Shouren (Yangming; 1472–1529), spurned Zhu’s method of inquiry altogether after he made a futile attempt to observe the li (patterning) in the bamboo outside his gate. Holding that facts are obvious to a perceptive observer and do not require endless further investigation, Wang went on to formulate an idealist pragmatism that became influential. Intending to counter the scholasticism and careerism of his day, Wang, a military man, stressed volitionism and activism and spurned the sort of careful objective inquiry Zhu thought necessary to making balanced judgments and appropriate responses.