I am surprised you dispute whether or not the Analects contain music criticism when this is so widely written about Your criticism of Steben s 2010 paper The Philosophy of Music and Ritual in Pre Han Confucian Thought for not using the word criticism is as unsupportable as your insistence on the word theory Lest we devolve into absurd arguments about the definition of criticism In general the word is defined as The action of criticizing or passing judgment on the qualities or merits of anything The Philological Society ed The Oxford English Dictionary Vol II C Oxford at the Clarendon Press 1970 p 1181 With regard to music specifically The Oxford Companion to Music defines it in specific regard to music as the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music or whole groups or genres Latham ed Oxford University Press 2002 p 324 Steben s paper then clearly describes Confucius criticism As another example WP s article on Yayue refers to Confucius writing The term yayue itself first appeared in the Analects 2 3 where yayue was considered by Confucius to be the kind of music that is good and beneficial in contrast to the popular music originated from the state of Zheng which he judged to be decadent and corrupting 4 5 Yayue is therefore regarded in the Confucian system as the proper form of music that is refined improving and essential for self cultivation and one that can symbolize good and stable governance 6 7 The Analects contain music criticism whether the word criticism appears or not I think you may be the only person around who thinks otherwise In the future if you make assertions like You claim that Confucius Analects is in regard to music criticism but the reference that you quote in support of your claim utterly fails to actually support it because it merely never speaks of criticism please cite a reference to support your argument Your continuing argument that a thing can not be accepted as theoretical unless it specifically uses the word theory is similarly problematic because it is not supported anywhere that I can find Throughout or discussion I ve pointed you to references that contradict your personal opinion If you have a reference for your opinion please cite Jacques Bailh