'중도(中道)'와 교육적 과제

The Senses of the Middle Way and its Educational Significance

The paper has tried to demonstrate the educational significance of the Middle Way. For this, the conceptual analysis has been made so that some misunderstandings of it can be found in such as expressions of mediocrity, median state, median state quo and so forth. Also ambiguities found in the concept can lead us to confront with its complexity, sometimes mistery in the mythological stories. Nevertheless, the analysis enables us to catch up with the conceptions as follows : going beyond the extremes, attaining the mean, and transcending antagonism. The main arguments have been focused on the transcendence, almost all of which rely on the Buddhist and the Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu philosophies. Not only going beyond good and evil and beyond two antagonistic oppositions as well as two extremes, the concept of the Middle Way also lies in embracing the normal state to sustain the moral state. Even though the concept cannot be sufficiently understood beyond the tension between good and evil, this does not comprise the moral anarchy. By the same token, the Middle Way stands for some desirable state of mind and also excellence of well-doing, including the Aristotelian mean, which throws light on the Oriental sense of attainment. It is impossible to take an account of the Middle Way if one has the excessive adhesion, which is the most significant point of view, the attitude to eschew originated from the its literal meaning. From these, there have found the educational implications that the Middle Way should not apply to the nihilistic and moral anarchic senses but accelerate us to devote to the normal schooling including studying the traditional subjects, which virtually lead us to reckon the genuine sense of the Middle Way.