The Ancient World (HUM 124 - UNC Asheville)/Texts/Analects/Good faith

Concept of Good Faith

Good Faith within Analects can be best describes as keeping your word, but more importantly: being honest, especially amongst the company of friends. To be 'of good faith' in Confucius' eyes is to be trusted, and to always maintain the trust of others through action. As Confucius says: "If you commit a fault, do not shrink from correcting it." Oftentimes, loyalty is brought into conversations and statements involving Good Faith, which makes sense because trust and loyalty go hand in hand; it's hard to have one without the other. Although it is not mentioned as much as some of the other Key Terms, it's often implied when private life is brought up... here are two examples: "Courtesy in private life, reverence in handling business, loyalty in relationships with others. They should not be set aside even if one visits the barbarian tribes.", "When he is always true to his word and he always brings his deeds to fruition." These quotes signify several aspects of Good Faith, without technically mentioning 'Good Faith'. A lesser touched on element of Good Faith is the fact that, although it's certainly a virtue to oneself and one's friends, having Good Faith means being true and honest with them even to a fault; "If one loves someone, can one avoid making him work hard? If one is loyal to someone, can one avoid instructing him?"

Examples from Text

Book 9, 12.

Book 9, 25.

Book 12, 10.

Book 13, 19.

Book 13, 20.

Book 14, 7.

Confucius Worldview/Ancient Worldview

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Guidelines for page

• A definition of the term in the form of a discussion over 1-3 paragraphs
• Unexplained or ambiguous aspects; general questions that we are left with
• Frequent use of quotations from the Analects, as much as possible
• Discussion about how this idea is relevant, or not relevant, to our modern worldview
• Explicit discussion of what Confucius’s worldview is, and how it might be characteristic of the ancient worldview in general