Analects 5.2: 公冶長 (Gongye Chang)
Confucius and his disciples · Classical Chinese original · new English translation and commentary by Text Atlas
Overview
Book 5 tests judgments of people against their conduct. The Master praises particular abilities and virtues while repeatedly withholding the larger judgment of humaneness. Marriage choices, public service, friendship, speech, and learning supply different kinds of evidence. Several exchanges expose a distance between what someone says or wants and what they can do; Zai Yu’s conduct even changes the Master’s way of judging. Near the end, the teacher and his companions state their own aspirations. The closing sayings turn assessment inward, toward recognizing faults and continuing to love learning.
Analects 5.2
子謂子賤、君子哉若人、魯無君子者、斯焉取斯。
The Master said of Zijian, “What an exemplary person he is! If there were no exemplary people in Lu, where could he have gained such character?”
Commentary
ethics Excellence learned among others The praise of Zijian turns at once toward the people of Lu. The repeated 君子, “exemplary person,” connects his character with the examples available around him. The question treats his excellence as evidence that such people exist in his community.
Basis: textual-inference
Confidence: high