Dai Zhen (1723–1777) systematically developed a philosophy based on the presupposition that the dao was constituted by things. Dai criticized the Song Neo-Confucians for artificially separating moral values from everyday social relations and activities, insofar as they identified the moral virtues of benevolence, rightness, propriety, and wisdom with the “empty, boundless, and subtle” principle, which, being prior and primary, was “above the realm of corporeal forms” (xing er shang), as opposed to diurnal actions and pursuits, which was seen to be “amidst the realm of corporeal forms” (xing er xia) and therefore, posterior and secondary.

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