Follow an explicit inference
故 and 是以 often link an earlier statement to a conclusion. 故 also has lexical uses such as a reason or an old circumstance. 是以 can be understood through “because of this”.
故 · 是以
A reading procedure
- Identify the prior claim being used as a basis.
- Locate the conclusion.
- Ask whether 故 is a connector or part of a noun phrase.
A writer’s inference is not evidence that the inference is factually correct.
Compare
Search finds spelling; it does not automatically label every occurrence with this construction.
zimai · AI-assisted editorial notes · Editorial pilot · not independently reviewed. CC BY-SA 4.0.
Evidence and further study
Linked passages below provide the primary-text evidence for these editorial examples. The readings are not borrowed from, or endorsed by, the further-study references.
Kanseki Repository · pinned primary text witnesses
Textual evidence. Individual examples link to exact source files and lines.
Edwin G. Pulleyblank · Outline of Classical Chinese Grammar
Further study: word order, predication, nominalization, negation and complex sentences. Book content is not reproduced.
Robert Eno · Introduction to Literary Chinese, Part I
Further study: an academic primer with annotated readings and exercises. Not imported.
Introduction to Classical Chinese · Schonebaum and contributors
Further study: function words and reading lessons. CC BY-NC-SA material is not imported into this dataset.
Thesaurus Linguae Sericae
Further research: contextual historical senses and syntactic analysis. No TLS annotation import in this release.
7 examples in context
古之人與民偕樂，故能樂也
People of old shared enjoyment with the people; therefore they could enjoy themselves.
故 marks the argument’s inference. The repeated 樂 is interpreted in relation to shared and personal enjoyment. Repetition connects the ideas but does not establish an automatic historical pronunciation for either occurrence.
Check your reading · Which word explicitly introduces the inference?
故.
故去彼取此
Therefore discard that and take this.
故 announces a conclusion, while 彼 and 此 select between the preceding alternatives. Their content must be recovered from the argument about bodily need and sensory pursuit; they are not free-standing names for good and bad.
Check your reading · Where do the meanings of “that” and “this” come from?
The contrasting alternatives established in the preceding text.
故令之有所屬
Therefore give these something to which they belong.
所屬 denotes what the preceding items should be attached or directed to. The following paired instructions spell out that orientation. The referent of 之 depends on the prior three formulas; it is not recoverable from the isolated graph alone.
Check your reading · What does 所屬 denote?
The object or basis of belonging or attachment.
故曰：「上德不德，是以有德。」
Thus it says: the highest virtue does not make a display of virtue, and therefore has virtue.
故曰 explicitly introduces a cited formulation also present in Laozi 38. The compact repeated 德 permits different interpretations; this reading aid follows the surrounding concern with outward fixation and should be checked against the chapter's explanation. The quotation is stronger evidence of a textual relation than a shared keyword alone.
Check your reading · What marks this as a quotation within an argument?
故曰 followed by the quoted wording.
故孔、墨之後，儒分為八，墨離為三
Thus after Confucius and Mozi, the Ru divide into eight and the Mohists into three.
The parallel predicates describe division into groups, with the group noun left understood after each number. These counts belong to the chapter's polemical presentation of competing teachings. They should be attributed to this text rather than displayed as an unqualified census of early intellectual history.
Check your reading · What noun must the reader supply after 八 and 三?
Groups, branches, or schools within the teachings being discussed.
視卒如嬰兒，故可與之赴深谿
Regard the troops as infants, and one can go with them into deep ravines.
之 refers to the troops and is governed by 與, not by 赴. The parental comparison is followed by a warning about affection without command. It is an argument about leadership and loyalty, not a claim that the soldiers literally lack adult capacities.
Check your reading · Which word governs the pronoun 之?
與: going with the troops.
上德不德，是以有德
The highest virtue does not assert itself as virtue; for this reason it has virtue.
The compressed repetition of 德 invites several readings, and the rendering makes one interpretive choice explicit. 是以 points back to the preceding paradox as a reason. Compare Hanfeizi's explicit quotation and commentary instead of assuming that its explanation exhausts this passage's possibilities.
Check your reading · What does 是以 connect?
The first statement about not enacting or asserting 德 to the resulting claim of having 德.