Correct name - Seimei (English spelling) zhèng míng

Japanese: 正名 - せいめい（英語表記）zhèng míng

An ancient Chinese concept of right and wrong. In the Analects of Confucius, "If the name is unjust, the culture of rites and music will decline, and the punishment will be unjust" (Zilu chapter), "correcting the name" means maintaining the title and name that accurately recognizes the substance of things. This insistence on the correct correspondence between name and reality expresses Confucius's position of not disturbing the status order of the ruler and subjects, father and son, and not allowing the destruction of filial piety and brotherly ethics in the "rites and music" aristocratic lordship system of his time, and his aversion to the legal equality ideas of his opponents such as Deng Shui (545-501 BC). Mencius saw the newly compiled Spring and Autumn Annals as the embodiment of Confucius' right name (right and wrong), and tried to learn from it the reverent idea of emphasizing the patriarchal system of "correcting the name and determining the rank, seeking the feelings and criticizing the truth" (Ouyang Xiu).

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

中国，古代の名分概念。《論語》の〈名が不正だと，礼楽文化は衰微し，刑罰は不当になる〉(子路篇)の〈名を正す〉，つまり事物の実質を正確に認識する称呼(よび名)を保持すること。この名と実の正しい一致の主張には，孔子の当時の〈礼楽〉的貴族領主制の，君臣･父子の身分秩序を乱さず，孝悌道徳の壊敗を許しえぬ立場，敵対する鄧析（とうせき）(前545‐前501)らの法的平等思想を忌避する態度が表明されている。孟子は，新しく編成された《春秋》を孔子の正名(名分)の具現とみて，そこから〈名を正して分を定め，情を求めて実を責める〉(欧陽修)君父制を重視する尊王思想を学びとろうとした。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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