Trust, Truthfulness and Distrust: An Exposition with Confucian Insight
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Trust, Truthfulness and Distrust: An Exposition with Confucian Insight Yinghua Lu1 Accepted: 24 October 2020 © Springer Nature B.V. 2020
1 Introduction Confucianism has always valued trustworthiness and trust, even in some way above the law.1 Why is xin 信 so important? Xin is not in the four initial feelings and vir‑ tues proposed by Mencius, but is included in five constants (wuchang 五常) by Han dynasty thinkers. Why did the Han dynasty thinkers take the trouble to tie xin to the other four feelings and virtues? What is the uniqueness of xin? Starting from our experience and with a phenomenological method, this paper attempts to systemati‑ cally clarify the expression and significance of xin.
2 The Expression and Correlation of Trust and Truthfulness Confucianism highlights the virtue of truthfulness from the very beginning. The main meaning of the word xin is trustworthiness and truthfulness. The Analytic Dictionary of Characters (Shuo Wen JieZi 說文解字) explains xin as “sincerity, fol‑ lowing one’s words.”2 The first chapter of the Analects of Confucius mentions xin frequently. Zeng Zi stated, “Every day I examine myself on three counts: in my deal‑ ings with others, have I in any way failed to be dutiful? In my interactions with friends and associates, have I in any way failed to be truthful? Finally, have I in any way failed to practice what is taught to me?” (Analects: 1.4)3 Confucius said: 1 Thanks the anonymous reviewer for pointing out this issue. Analects 3:18 maintains that in order to preserve family trust and affection, one should not directly expose one’s guilty father to the authority to let him get punished. 2 Xu Shen 許慎, Ding Fubao 丁福保. Annotation of Analytic Dictionary of Characters 說文解字詁林 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju 中華書局, 1988), p. 2945. 3 Confucius 孔子, Confucius Analects: with selections from Traditional Commentaries, trans., Edward Slingerland (Indianapolis and Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Company, 2003), p. 2, with modifications. Without otherwise noted, translations of Analects are from this work.
* Yinghua Lu [email protected] 1
Si‑Mian Institute for Advanced Studies in Humanities and Department of Philosophy, East China Normal University, Humanities Building, Office 3129, 500 Dongchuan Rd., Minhang District, Shanghai 200241, China
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“To guide a state of one thousand chariots, be respectful in your handing of affairs and display trustworthiness…” (Analects: 1.5) Confucius also said: “A young per‑ son should be filial when at home and respectful of his elders when in public. Con‑ scientious and trustworthy, he should love the people universally, and be close to the humane people…” (Analects: 1.6) Zhu Xi (朱熹 1130-1200) comments under this passage that: “Xin means one’s words have their reality.”4 This reality indicates telling the truth and not lying, as well as that one always performs what she pro‑ posed or accepted to do. If someone is accustomed to lying or failing in fulfilling her promises, she will lose others’ trust. If a government frequently
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