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119 c h a p t e r 3 The Sense of Justice in the Analects I have heard that those who possess a state or noble house are not concerned about whether their people are few in number, but rather about whether their people are content; they are not concerned [so much] about poverty, but about unequal distribution. If wealth is equally distributed, there should be no poverty.1 As we turn to the Analects, we return to the questions raised in the Introduction to this book: Without a term for “justice,” how does the text of the Analects reveal an appreciation for a sense of justice? What features, in particular, help to show that it is appropriate to call it a sense of justice? This chapter is devoted to showing how an appreciation for a sense of justice is expressed in the Analects. In the first section, I argue that the primary concern of the Analects is to advocate the cultivation of a certain set of virtues in human beings. In the second section, I show that a distinctive set of concerns emerges in the context of this discussion of self-cultivation, and that these concerns evince an appreciation for a sense of justice. In the third section of the chapter I defend my argument against a series of possible objections, including the view that there is no term for “a sense of justice” and, therefore, no idea of it in the Analects, and the objection that the term “sense of justice” is a Rawlsian imposition. I also discuss some passages that could be offered as counter-examples to the view that there is an appreciation for a sense of justice in the Analects, as well as the view that the history of ancient China does not reflect an appreciation for a sense of justice. 120 The Sense of Justice in the Analects The Cultivation of the Virtues in the Analects Although this study focuses on the view we find in the text of the Analects as a whole, it will be helpful to begin by getting a sense of Kongzi as his story is presented in the Analects. In 4.8, Kongzi says, “Having in the morning heard that the Way was being put into practice, I could die that evening without regret.” In passages like this, we get the distinct sense that Kongzi’s life is devoted to the propagation of the Way (Dao 道) in the world.2 Most generally, the Way is a path or way of living that comprises the virtues, moral capacities, and rituals that Kongzi advocates. He sees these things as features of traditional Zhou culture, but their origins, for Kongzi, lie beyond the Zhou sage-kings. The Analects tells us that Kongzi was called by Heaven (Tian 天) to put its plan for human beings—the Way—into practice. In 3.24, we are presented with a scene in which Kongzi and his followers are departing from the state of Lu after he has resigned from his official position as the minister of crime. A border official says to them, “You disciples, why should you be concerned about your Master’s loss of office? The world has been without the Way for a long time now, and Heaven intends to use your Master like the wooden clapper for a bell.” On the view that is expressed in this passage, Kongzi’s loss of office is somehow part of a grand plan laid out by Heaven, according to which Kongzi is called to spread the teachings of the Way and wake up the world from its fallen state. In other passages, Kongzi speaks of his sense of vocation and his relationship to Heaven. In 7.23, he says, “It is Heaven itself that has endowed me with virtue,” and then he goes on to say that he has nothing to fear in Huan Tui, a military officer from the state of Song who had attempted to harm him. Kongzi makes a similar remark in 9.5, when he is surrounded in Kuang and says, “If Heaven intended this culture to perish, it would not have given it to those of us who live after King Wen’s death. Since Heaven did not intend that this culture should perish, what can the people of Kuang do to me?” In both of these passages, it seems clear that Kongzi is not afraid of his destiny in this world because...

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