Abstract

In this article, I will use a looted bamboo manuscript to reconsider a group of analogies in Mengzi 6A between virtue and desire.1 The manuscript, titled Kongzi shilun 孔子詩論, contains fragments of a Warring States interpretation of “Guanju” 關雎 among other poems in the Shijing 詩經.2 Ever since Confucius commented on the poem in the Analects, it has fascinated generations of Confucian philosophers who try to see beyond its literary meaning for some deeper truth concerning humanity. As can be expected, the discovery of a previously lost interpretation soon sparked widespread interest, for it not only predates the earliest...