An Exploration of Mencius's"Discrimination between Righteousness(Yi)and Profit(Li)"--Centered around the Analysis of the Multiple Meanings of"Benefit(Li)"
The distinction between righteousness(Yi)and Profit(Li)is a fundamen-tal concern in Confucian ethics.Subsequent commentators and interpreters have conducted multidimensional discussions on this topic,either reconciling the rela-tionship between righteousness(Yi)and Profit(Li)from the perspective of"benevo-lence and righteousness are never disadvantageous",or focusing on interpreting benevolence and righteousness from a moral metaphysical perspective while ne-glecting the analysis of Profit(Li).In these explanatory models,the"distinction between righteousness(Li)and profit(Li)"has been stripped of the early Confu-cian political philosophy's concern and become a matter of individual moral choice.Profit(Li)is often referred to broadly as goodness or financial benefit,which has led to many misunderstandings about the"distinction between righ-teousness(Li)and profit(Li)".In the original context of Mencius's"distinction be-tween righteousness(Li)and profit(Li),"emphasizing righteousness(Li)over profit(Li)was mainly a requirement for social elites;"Li"does not generally refer to goodness or financial benefits,but can be extended from the pursuit of"en-riching the country and strengthening the military"to"strength".Based on this,the basic mechanism of"competition"triggered by"A desire for profit(Li)"can be systematically explained to clarify the harm caused by"profit",thus providing a realistic defense for the rationality of valuing righteousness(Li)over profit(Li).
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