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<p>Many scholars have discussed the archetype of the self-deceived “village worthy” (<i>xiang yuan</i> 鄉原) as appearing in <i>Analects</i> 17.13, <i>Mencius</i> 7B37, and later elsewhere. Building upon the discussion, this essay seeks to provide: firstly, a “discourse-internal” contextualization of this archetype, which sees it as an important manifestation of a broader ethical concern with physically-manifest bodily <i>de</i> (<i>shenxing zhi de</i> 身形之德) evident in many Warring States texts of both Ruist (i.e., Confucian) and non-Ruist provenance; secondly, a “discourse-external” perspective on this archetype, specifically an evolutionary-anthropological perspective, which sees it as an important manifestation of shifting social signaling strategies and the “arms-race” dynamics attendant thereupon in an age of ever-increasing contact with strangers and outgroups. This essay argues that from both the internal and external perspectives, bodily <i>de</i> can be (and indeed was) seen as having an important signaling function, and it was the village worthy’s degradation of the fidelity of the valuable public good that was this signaling function which disgusted Confucius, leading him to label the village worthy one who “does injury to <i>de</i>.”</p>

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Bodily De 德 and the Village Worthy 鄉原

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年1月3日

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  • Jordan B. Martin

摘要

Many scholars have discussed the archetype of the self-deceived “village worthy” (xiang yuan 鄉原) as appearing in Analects 17.13, Mencius 7B37, and later elsewhere. Building upon the discussion, this essay seeks to provide: firstly, a “discourse-internal” contextualization of this archetype, which sees it as an important manifestation of a broader ethical concern with physically-manifest bodily de (shenxing zhi de 身形之德) evident in many Warring States texts of both Ruist (i.e., Confucian) and non-Ruist provenance; secondly, a “discourse-external” perspective on this archetype, specifically an evolutionary-anthropological perspective, which sees it as an important manifestation of shifting social signaling strategies and the “arms-race” dynamics attendant thereupon in an age of ever-increasing contact with strangers and outgroups. This essay argues that from both the internal and external perspectives, bodily de can be (and indeed was) seen as having an important signaling function, and it was the village worthy’s degradation of the fidelity of the valuable public good that was this signaling function which disgusted Confucius, leading him to label the village worthy one who “does injury to de.”