Analects 2.17: 為政 (Wei Zheng)
Confucius and his disciples · Classical Chinese original · new English translation and commentary by Text Atlas
Overview
Book 2 connects government with the character and practices of those who govern. The pole-star image and the contrast between punishment and ritual give two ways of thinking about how people respond to authority. Four answers about filial devotion move through ritual, parental concern, reverence, and demeanor. Sayings on learning then test how knowledge appears in thought, conduct, and honest acknowledgment of limits. The closing exchanges return to public authority, trustworthiness, inherited ritual, and the courage to act on what is right. The collection repeatedly asks what gives outward action its substance.
Analects 2.17
子曰、由、誨女知之乎、知之為知之、不知為不知、是知也。
The Master said to You, “Shall I teach you what it means to know? When you know something, recognize that you know it; when you do not, recognize that you do not. That is knowing.”
Commentary
philology You and Master You You (由) is the listener the Master addresses here. The name differs from 有 in Master You (有子), who speaks in Book 1. The Master uses this listener’s bare personal name, as he does for Hui (回) and Ci (賜); 女 is the pronoun “you.”
Basis: textual-inference
Confidence: high
philology Knowing the limits of knowledge The repeated 知 ties possession of knowledge to recognizing its limits. The final 知 can carry the evaluative sense of wisdom, turning an honest distinction between knowing and not knowing into a form of understanding.
Basis: textual-inference
Confidence: medium