"righteousness," "rightness," appropriate, sense of appropriateness.
A. S. Cua, who translates yi as "rightness," explains: "Yi focuses principally on what is right or fitting. The equation of yi with its homophone meaning 'appropriateness' [宜] is explicit in Zhongyong, Section 20, and generally accepted by Confucianists, e.g., Xunzi, Li Gou, and Zhu Xi. However, what is right or fitting depends on reasoned judgment. As Xunzi puts it: 'The person concerned with yi follows reason.' Thus, yi may be construed as reasoned judgment concerning the right thing to do in particular exigencies. Recall Li Gou's plausible statement that what is yi is 'decisive judgment' that is appropriate to the situation at hand" (Cua 1993, p. 277).
Nicholas Gier maintains, " 'Right' rather than the traditional 'righteousness' is a much better translation of yi, as long as we realize that this would always mean what is right for us or right for our condition" (Gier, p. 287). And, Huang Chun-chieh submits, "In China, yi has never been a universal rule of conduct eternally fixed in the cognitive heavens, but instead has always been a matter of flexible judgment rendered to make ourselves fit for ever-changing situations" (Huang, p. 60). Since there is no presumption of a single "right answer," I prefer some variation on the word "appropriate."
Last Date Modified: 08/21/2007
Kurtis Hagen, e-mail: hagenkg@plattsburgh.edu