This term means to discern the true meaning of statements. This concept is mentioned in early Confucian classics such as The Analects and Mencius. Confucianism regarded statements as the vehicle through which people express themselves and communicate with others. However, for various reasons, statements often cannot accurately, faithfully or fully convey the true meaning that was intended to convey. Hence Confucianism emphasized the need to discern statements to find out why they deviated from the true meaning and further explore it.

If you do not discern statements of others, you cannot understand them. (The Analects)

Gongsun Chou asked, “What does discerning statements mean?” Mencius said, “Discerning statements enables one to know how one-sided statements are biased, exaggerations are untrue, heresy is deviated from truth and poor defense is unjustified.” (Mencius)