The core of The Analects is to explain the problems of gentlemen and villains, so we should make clear the concepts of gentlemen and villains from the beginning. Throughout the Analects of Confucius, people are talking about gentlemen and villains, but Confucius and his students are all talking but not doing, so they have never defined gentlemen and villains, nor have they summarized their specific standards one by one. They all talk about gentlemen and villains in daily life, work and study. The standard of gentleman and villain is scattered and unsystematic, and it is not standardized according to the current practice, which is easy to cause misunderstanding and ambiguity to future generations.

The concepts of gentleman and villain in The Analects of Confucius are completely different from what we understand today. It is not that we often simply think that gentlemen are good people and villains are bad people. The gentleman and villain in the Analects of Confucius first pointed out the difference between them. People who come from a big family, that is, the direct descendants of the son of heaven, monarch and monarch, belong to gentlemen. Concubine and collateral belong to the small clan, referred to as villain. In terms of origin, only nobles can be divided into gentlemen and villains, while civilians and slaves cannot be divided into gentlemen and villains. The gentlemen and villains mentioned in the Analects of Confucius basically do not refer to their origins, the origins of villains, or even ordinary people other than gentlemen and villains, or even slaves. If they blend into the upper class in a certain way and become social managers, they are among the gentlemen.

In terms of origin and identity, gentlemen and villains have nothing to do with moral issues. However, as a social manager, his personality is very important. Let people with defective products manage society, and society will have problems. Therefore, The Analects of Confucius constantly emphasizes the character of a gentleman and requires him to constantly improve his self-cultivation. For villains, they are more executors than decision makers and managers, and they can't and don't need to ask them like gentlemen. Moreover, in Confucius' view, villains are sometimes regarded as the bottom line of being a man. For example, in 13.20, Zi Gong asked how to be a scholar, and the last rule Confucius answered was "Keep your word, do what you say, and be humble." It can also be seen that the villain mentioned in the Analects of Confucius is not a person with moral problems, let alone a bad person.