Key to Knowledge
“The Master said, ‘Yu, shall I teach you what knowledge is? When you know a thing, to hold that you know it; and when you do not know a thing, to allow that you do not know it; this is knowledge.’ ”
I recently read Confucius’ The Analects for perhaps the fifth time in the past 4 years. Each time I read it for a class in college, I found different phrases stood out to me. This time was no exception. As I read, the theme of knowledge kept catching my eye. My conclusion from reading is that the key to knowledge is communication and learning about and from other people.
Note the quote above from Part 2 of The Analects. It points out the value of being confident in what we know, but also being humble about what we do not know. Confidence and humility are behaviors that come out when we communicate with other people, often unconsciously. As I read phrases that focused on knowledge in The Analects, I noted this theme of knowledge continually being intertwined with our relationships to other people. Note the following quotes:
“Fan Ch'ih asked about benevolence. The Master said, ‘It is to love all men.’ He asked about knowledge. The Master said, ‘It is to know all men’” (Part 12).
"I will not be afflicted at men's not knowing me; I will be afflicted that I do not know men" (Part 1).
"Without knowing the force of words, it is impossible to know men" (Part 19).
They each reference knowing people as an important value. The last quote, found at the end of The Analects, points out the role language plays in knowing men. We cannot learn and know others if we don’t know how to communicate with them and, in turn, what their words mean. So language becomes the medium for knowing other people. This last quote is a final echo of the frequent comments Confucius gives that words should align with our actions. Words are separate from the truth. They can show the truth, but they can also be deceptive. For example, “The Master said, "Fine words and an insinuating appearance are seldom associated with virtue” (Parts 1 and 17). The appearance is not the real thing. We must learn how words are used to both show the truth and deceive if we want to effective in receiving and giving in communication. Both these elements, knowing about people and and about language, contribute to increasing our knowledge.
In the field of education, knowledge is also more than facts. I prefer a holistic approach to learning. Nothing you study is separate from everything else. I studied literature in college, so aesthetics, language, story-telling, history, and psychology were just a few areas I researched to more effectively understand people and the things they wrote. But consider knowledge of physics and math. In studying these topics, we work with abstract ideas more than people. Yet the built-up knowledge of these topics would not be possible without the many people who came before and engaged with it. It was important for them to communicate their knowledge accurately to help others understand it and continue to build on it. All our knowledge ties back to knowing humanity and opening up the conversation with those who came before. Education should be, in essence, building knowledge of people and how to understand and better communicate with them.
So here are your takeaways from Confucius’ The Analects today:
Be confident in the knowledge you have and continue to build it up.
Admit when you don’t know something so you can learn more.
Learn about language and how words are used as representatives of things but not real things.
Have your own words and actions align.
Look for the human touch in your knowledge sources. Build on what others have done before to find more complete solutions to problems.
Read more of The Analects by clicking on the link in the Works Cited below.
Works Cited
Confucius, The Analects, classics.mit.edu. Accessed February 9, 2019.