 To be sure, this utilitarianism was not devoid of moral and normative imperatives, to the extent that actions had to be inspired and guided by values such as moral rulership (wang), rightness and integrity (yi), and public-mindedness (gong). At the same time, it embraced an ethical perspective that invested value in the utility and function of secular, institutional amelioration. From the late Ming onward, thought did gravitate far more toward actualities and practicalities, as the ideal and slogan of jingshi, ordering the world, took center stage. Gu Yanwu loathed what he considered to be the “empty and vacuous learning” (kongxu zhi xue) in the Ming times, which 