Li Lou I · Passage 26 / 28 · 孟子 4A.26
Mencius 4A.26: among the forms of unfilial conduct
Mencius is not absolutizing childbirth in isolation. Through Shun's marriage he is asking how to judge when the continuation of familial duty and ritual form.
孟子曰：「不孝有三，無後爲大。舜不告而娶，爲無後也，君子以爲猶告也。」
Mencius said, 'There are three things which are unfilial, and to have no posterity is the greatest of them. Shun married without informing his parents because of this, lest he should have no posterity. Superior men consider that his doing so was the same as if he had informed them.'
Priority note
A human-edited reading layer
Central question
Why does Mencius say that among the forms of unfilial conduct, having no posterity is the greatest?
Direct answer
Because in his framework the breaking of the familial line is not a merely private disappointment but a major rupture in the chain of kinship responsibility. Shun's marriage is read through that lens.
First principle
Ethical judgment cannot stop at the surface form of a rule; it must ask what fundamental relation the rule exists to preserve.
Why it matters
This passage has enduring search demand and controversy around unfilial conduct, posterity, and the place of Shun in Mencian ethics.
Further reading
What this passage is doing
This is passage 26 of 28 in Li Lou I. The cleanest entry point is "There are three things which are unfilial, and…". In context, it works as part of Mencius's argument about self-examination, disorder, and keeping the way and can be read alongside Human nature.
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Li Lou I often approaches disorder through self-examination and the standards for keeping the way.
Related principles
Citation note
Do not flatten the passage into an ancient command to reproduce. Mencius is discussing the relation between ritual form and the deeper purpose of kinship continuity.