在古典思想的視野裏，名呈現、揭示了事物的「本來面目」。命名之於事物不僅具有去蔽、澄明之功，且通過命名，人類將事物納入自己的生活世界，並據以實現其至治理想。對於先秦諸子而言，一方面，無名不言治，且命名既意味著一種賦予事物之名的正當性權力，故聖與王是內涵相通的；另一方面，正名真正所要辨析和端正的，乃是作為名之所指的諸實及其關係，正名實為正實。儘管皆主正名，諸家論名往往根據現實需要或思想興趣而各有側重，深刻地展示了晚周之際的治術之變和學派分化之狀。

From the perspective of classical thought, Names present and reveal the “true nature” of things. Naming not only has the function of unconcealing and clarifying things, but also through naming, human beings bring things into their own life world and realize their ideal of supreme governance. For the pre-Qin scholars, on the one hand, distinguishing names is a prerequisite for discussing governance, and naming means a kind of right power to give the names of things, so saints and kings are interlinked in connotation; on the other hand, what is really to be distinguished and rectified is the facts and their relations that are referred to in the names, therefore, the rectification of Names is actually the rectification of Realities. Although all of them advocate the rectification of Names, different scholars often focus on different aspects according to their practical needs or ideological interests when discussing names, which profoundly shows the changes of in governance strategies and the differentiation of schools in the late Zhou Dynasty.