Jin Xin I · Passage 15 / 46 · 孟子 7A.15

Mencius 7A.15: innate knowing and innate ability

The child's love of parents and respect for elders to argue that benevolence and righteousness are not externally installed skills but extensions of innate.

孟子曰：「人之所不學而能者，其良能也。所不慮而知者，其良知也。孩提之童，無不知愛其親者，及其長也，無不知敬其兄也。親親，仁也。敬長，義也。無他，達之天下也。」

mèng zǐ yuē：「rén zhī suǒ bù xué ér néng zhě， qí liáng néng yě。 suǒ bú lǜ ér zhī zhě， qí liáng zhī yě。 hái tí zhī tóng， wú bù zhī ài qí qīn zhě， jí qí cháng yě， wú bù zhī jìng qí xiōng yě。 qīn qīn， rén yě。 jìng cháng， yì yě。 wú tā， dá zhī tiān xià yě。」

Mencius said, 'The ability possessed by men without having been acquired by learning is intuitive ability, and the knowledge possessed by them without the exercise of thought is their intuitive knowledge. Children carried in the arms all know to love their parents, and when they are grown a little, they all know to love their elder brothers. Filial affection for parents is the working of benevolence. Respect for elders is the working of righteousness. There is no other reason for those feelings - they belong to all under heaven.'

Priority note

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Central question

Why does Mencius say that what one can do without learning is innate ability, and what one knows without reflection is innate knowing?

Direct answer

Because he wants to show that moral life does not begin only after complex knowledge is inserted from outside. In the earliest love of parents and respect for elders, the heart already displays capacities that can be extended. Later cultivation develops them rather than manufacturing them from nothing.

First principle

Education is genuinely possible not because it stuffs an empty being with content, but because it works from a real beginning already present in the heart.

Why it matters

This passage serves searches around innate knowing, innate ability, and Mencius on the basis of moral education, making it a bridge between the four beginnings and human goodness.

What this passage is doing

This is passage 15 of 46 in Jin Xin I. The cleanest entry point is "The ability possessed by men without having been…". In context, it works as part of Mencius's argument about exhausting the heart, sincerity, and preserving the original heart and can be read alongside Four beginnings / four sprouts, Humane government / kingly way, Flood-like qi.

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