Jin Xin I · Passage 27 / 46 · 孟子 7A.27
Mencius 7A.27: damaged conditions can injure the heart
Just as bodily deprivation distorts taste, damaged conditions distort judgment. Moral error is often shaped by the injured state of the heart.
孟子曰：「饑者甘食，渴者甘飲，是未得飲食之正也，饑渴害之也。豈惟口腹有饑渴之害？人心亦皆有害。人能無以饑渴之害為心害，則不及人不為憂矣。」
Mencius said, 'The hungry think any food sweet, and the thirsty think the same of any drink, and thus they do not get the right taste of what they eat and drink. The hunger and thirst, in fact, injure their palate. And is it only the mouth and belly which are injured by hunger and thirst? Men's minds are also injured by them. If a man can prevent the evils of hunger and thirst from being any evils to his mind, he need not have any sorrow about not being equal to other men.'
Priority note
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Central question
Why does Mencius compare hunger and thirst harming the mouth to the way the heart too can be harmed?
Direct answer
Because severe deprivation makes people misjudge taste itself, taking any food or drink for the proper thing. The heart can likewise grow used to distortion and mistake injury for normality. The problem is not only intellect, but damage in the condition of judgment.
First principle
Judgment often goes wrong not because people were born unable to know, but because the condition carrying judgment has been harmed.
Why it matters
This passage serves searches around damaged judgment, desire, and Mencius on moral distortion. It clarifies how human goodness can coexist with real practical error under bad conditions.
Further reading
What this passage is doing
This is passage 27 of 46 in Jin Xin I. The cleanest entry point is "The hungry think any food sweet, and the…". 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 Human nature.
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Jin Xin I centers on exhausting the heart, sincerity, and preserving the capacities already given in the human heart.
Related principles
Citation note
Do not read it as an excuse for anything a person does under pressure. Mencius is not removing responsibility; he is asking what injuries must be treated if judgment is to become reliable again.