Confucius's village worthies : hypocrites as thieves of virtue

• Main Author: Sung, Winnie
• Other Authors: Alston, Charlotte
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Bloomsbury Academic 2021
• Subjects: Humanities::Philosophy; Confucius; Village Worthies
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/148274
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

“Village worthies”, says Confucius (c. 551-479 BCE), “are the thieves of virtue” (Analects 17.13). Village worthies are those who are popular and respected in their villages as virtuous, conscientious, truthful, and incorruptible in their conduct. Confucius particularly detests the village worthies for outwardly acting in ways that people commonly regard as moral but inwardly lacking the relevant virtuous character that substantiates their behaviours. But why detest them so much as to call them the thieves of virtue? Although it is not ideal that one does not have a virtuous character, it is at least better for one to perform virtuous acts than to perform vicious acts – or so the thought goes.