On The Connotation, Time And Value Of Confucianism 's Righteousness In The Framework Of Benevolence And Lust

Righteousness, as an important Confucian ethic concept, is usually mentioned together with the other two of its kind-kindheartedness and courtesy. In this article, the essence of righteousness is explored by comparison of the closely related three. A new perspective adopted here is that, apart from the generally accepted parallel relationship among the three, they can also be interpreted as constituting a hierarchical structure in terms of moral superiority according to different degree of willingness behind the related moral behavior. Particularly, kindheartedness, characterized by moral behavior out of complete willingness and pure conscience, represents the highest level; and courtesy, has the lowest level of moral superiority, because it can be used to refer to moral behavior driven by desire from the inside and forced by some regulations from the outside. While righteousness, which lies somewhere between the above two, usually asserts itself by a sharp contrasting like-and dislike in emotion, and has a moral option enforced through conquering of desire by conscience. Therefore, righteousness is actually the key to the moral self-cultivation practice in Confucianism, and consequently plays an essential role in the politics of ancient China, which itself is much concentrated on moralization. Even in modern time, righteousness still has great influence in many aspects of social life, where it is proved to be not only moral but also beneficial.