Dai Zhen on Nature (Xing) and Pattern (Li)

The article discusses Dai Zhen's views on pattern (li ?). For Dai, pattern has to do with ensuring that the means by which one attains one's emotional propensities (qing ?) and satisfies one's desires (yu ?) will not prevent others from doing the same. The heart/mind (xin ?) has the capacity to know (zhi ?) pattern on such basis and such knowledge will guide action. Ethical failure is due to a deficiency in knowledge, and self-cultivation involves developing one's capacity to know so that one can grasp the pattern in any affair one encounters.