Within the Great Learning, the rectification of names is not set forth as an independent doctrine, yet its spirit quietly permeates the text’s vision of moral and political life. The work traces a movement from the investigation of things and the extension of knowledge to the regulation of the family, the ordering of the state, and peace under Heaven. This progression presupposes that social roles—ruler, minister, father, son—carry a definite moral content. For order to prevail, those who bear these titles must act in ways that truly correspond to the meaning of their names. In this sense, rectifying names means ensuring that the realities of conduct match the normative weight of the roles themselves.

The text’s emphasis on sincerity and the rectification of the mind illuminates another dimension of this principle. When the heart-mind is made upright and one’s intentions are sincere, the alignment between name and reality arises naturally: what a person is called—whether parent, official, or student—accurately reflects how that person behaves. Inner moral clarity thus becomes the ground upon which language and social designation can be trusted. The rectification of names may be seen as the outward, social echo of this inward work of self-cultivation.

This alignment of names and realities is not a mere matter of semantics; it is foundational for family harmony and effective governance. If a ruler does not act as a true ruler, or a minister fails to fulfill the responsibilities implied by that title, the shared understanding that holds society together begins to unravel. Communication becomes unreliable, expectations lose their moral force, and the chain that links personal cultivation to public order is weakened. By contrast, when language is used accurately and roles are faithfully embodied, the path is cleared for the Great Learning’s vision of a world in which personal virtue radiates outward into stable families, well-ordered states, and a harmonious realm.