I
I. A Chinese term often translated as ‘righteousness’. It connotes that which is just, proper, in accord with moral and customary principles.
As a moral and philosophical concept, i is rooted in early Confucian thought. For Confucius himself, i seems to have been related to a more comprehensive value, jen (‘humanheartedness’). Mencius placed greater stress on i, making it one of the four virtues each of which has a ‘font’ (tuan) in the heart or mind.
In early Taoist thought, particularly in the Chuang Tzu, i is the condition in which all things, merely by following their nature, do the ‘right’ thing.
For early ‘legalist’ thinkers such as Han Fei Tzu, by contrast, i was seen as already a relic from the past. Jen and i no longer suffice to order society, despite the fact that they were taught and practised by the sage kings and teachers of old; only coercion by force is effective.
These early schools of thought set the parameters for most subsequent moral and philosophical thought on i.
As a moral and philosophical concept, i is rooted in early Confucian thought. For Confucius himself, i seems to have been related to a more comprehensive value, jen (‘humanheartedness’). Mencius placed greater stress on i, making it one of the four virtues each of which has a ‘font’ (tuan) in the heart or mind.
In early Taoist thought, particularly in the Chuang Tzu, i is the condition in which all things, merely by following their nature, do the ‘right’ thing.
For early ‘legalist’ thinkers such as Han Fei Tzu, by contrast, i was seen as already a relic from the past. Jen and i no longer suffice to order society, despite the fact that they were taught and practised by the sage kings and teachers of old; only coercion by force is effective.
These early schools of thought set the parameters for most subsequent moral and philosophical thought on i.
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I