Analects 5.20: 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 5.20
子曰、甯武子、邦有道、則知、邦無道、則愚、其知可及也、其愚不可及也。
The Master said, “When the state had the Way, Ning Wuzi was wise; when it lacked the Way, he was foolish. His wisdom can be matched; his foolishness cannot.”
Commentary
politics Foolishness no one can match Ning Wuzi’s conduct changes with the state’s relation to the Way. Calling his foolishness unmatchable, while his wisdom can be matched, reverses the ordinary ranking. The praise suggests a difficult restraint or concealment of ability under bad rule. The English keeps “was foolish”: the text does not explicitly say that the foolishness was a performance.
Basis: textual-inference
Confidence: medium