16세기 유학적 수양론과 경세론의 연관구조

The political implication of Confucius Self-Cultivation in the Sixteenth Century

When put in comparison with Western philosophy, the most distinctive characteristic of Eastern philosophy may be found in its practice-oriented stance. Confucianism, defined as the discipline for cultivating oneself and governing the state, inseparably combines the notions of self-cultivation and governance. This characteristic reinforces itself in the age of Neo-Confucianism. It applies well to the case of Chosun, where Neo-Confucianism centering upon Chu Hsi's teachings was adopted as the official academic discipline. However, research heretofore has neglected to clarify the aspect of Neo-Confucianism as a discipline for practice, mainly focusing on the content of philosophical debates in Chosun Confucianism. This tendency, instead of fully explaining how it functioned as a spiritual ground in Chosun society or what actual shapes its sociopolitical applications took, only helps to fortify the attack on the pragmatic hollowness of Confucianism which has been a controversy since the dawn of modernity. Therefore, this paper aims to explicate what practical influences Confucianism of Chosun exerted upon its society and what social function it performed, by studying the structural connection between the Confucianist notions of self-cultivation and governance of the sixteenth century, when Chosun Confucianism shaped itself fully with all its distinctive characteristics. For this purpose, I examine the appearance of the Kiho Sarim, as well as characterize the relationship between the Yongnam Sarim (the origin of the Kiho Sarim) and the Chul-eui School, whom they revered. In doing so, I attempt to clarify what the practical issues were that Chosun Confucianism of the time had to tackle; why the scholars then had to emphasize rigorously thorough self-control, based on the idea of “self-control”(수기율신) in So-hak(『소학』); how they envisioned the realization of the politics of Confucianist morality. Then I examine how the do-hak(도학) idea of fidelity historically developed itself, with the Sarim in its center. The Sarim originated from the Yongnam Sarim who inherited the spirit of fidelity and int writy of the end of the Koryo Dynasty; it reinfolyed its spirit winte undergoing King Sejo's usurpation of the throne, and developed its characteristic of emphasizing the idea of rim who instriving to attain anic ademic the Yongnatisticimed at the perfection of one's own character, in older ademister scholars who prioritized int writy and loyalty and fulfntled their national and social responsibilities. Next I go into the content of the ideal society that they attempted to shape on the ground of thorough self-cultivation. For they emphasized the latter not because they merely intended to breed moralistic scholars but because they needed to cultivate competent men who would be willing to sacrifice themselves for the nation. It is therefore necessary to study how they re-established the original politcal ideals of Confucianism, and how they attempted to reform the political abuses of the time. Then I review the changes in the emphases on self-cultivation and the methodology in the early, mid, and late phases of the sixteenth century, through focusing on Chong-am, Hoe-jae, and Yul-gok. Finally, I conclude that, insofar as the do-hak character of Chosun Confucianism that was established in the sixteenth century lied in its intention to realize the Confucianist ideals within the actual social circumstances of the time, the value system of later Chosun scholars could fulfill its pragmatic function in history, by basing itself upon this do-hak spirit.