Analects 4.22: On Taciturnity

In Analect 4.22 the Master tells us that "People in ancient times were not eager to speak, because they would be ashamed if their actions did not measure up to their words." Given our discussion at the end of last class concerning the "unspokeness" of the analects, I wonder if this quotation offers something of a hermeneutic key for why the book is structured this way. Everything in the Confucian way is offered here: an emphasis on looking to the past as a model for appropriate conduct, virtue in action as an ideal, and a conception of speech that places a premium on choosing one's words carefully. 

The Analects may be an artifact of writing made to resemble original speech events, creating the illusion of an almost dramatic structure, but this does not mean that it tells all in the way that a play or dialogue would. Each individual analect feels like a window into the Confucian world that has been carefully chosen only because it reflects the entire message of the Way. The Analects reserve no room for all the mess and noise that normally accompany a dramatic depiction of events. They are a crystal clear distillation of the path to virtue. This is why the Analects feel so different from a Socratic dialogue; while Socrates portrays the Attic virtues of loquaciousness and systematicity, Confucius is decidedly Laconic in his attempt to model the virtue of taciturnity and precision.  

Comments

  1. Krishnan VenkateshFebruary 6, 2022 at 9:45 PM

    This opens up an interesting inquiry into the significance of silence, of space. Your suggestion is that the Analects are not fragments, vestigial pieces, of more sustained chatter, but actually statements that emerge out of long silent thought -- a bit like the laconic remarks of the heroes of Westerns, the "strong silent types," as they travel across plains and deserts.

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