Abstract:

The view that "righteousness is essential" is a basic position of traditional Confucianists as to the relationship between righteousness and profitableness. It involves two aspects: "righteousness can give rise to profitableness" and "righteousness will restrict profitableness". The two meanings were paid great attention and had reasonable and stable forms in the pre - Qin period.But they were actually separate and contradictory, for "righteousness" was given two different functions.The orthodox Confucians and the non - orthodox Confucians emphasized and developed one aspect respectively. The two aspects had some balanced development in the period of Ming and Qing dynasties. However, those discussions among Confucians of the Ming - Qing period were made in the context of old theories.. They could not free from the difficult position of the traditional Confucian view on the relationship between righteousness and profitableness.

Key words: righteousness, profitableness, traditional Confucian view