유가 예술정신과 도덕교육적 함의

The Artistic Spirit of Confucianism and Its Implications for Moral Education

The characteristic of the artistic spirit in Confucianism is two. One is the unification of artistic beauty and moral goodness, the other is the pursuit of moral enhancement through musical education. Confucians knew well the educational and moral implications of art and utilized them in moral education. Especially, music touches people’s heart well and contributes to making people morally good. Music can contribute to change social customs toward good direction. In this regard, administrators consider music as a useful tool to guide people and nation. The effect of music is quite extensive throughout personal, social and national dimensions. Some significance of Confucian artistic spirit in the modern world can be found in four directions: First, the harmony of the artistic beauty and the moral goodness; second, moral training function of music: third, the emphasis of harmonious character in pursuit of becoming a sage: fourth, the inclusion of moral aspects in the contents of art education. It is desirable to apply Confucian artistic ideas to modern musical and moral education. We suggest four concrete examples to utilize Confucian artistic ideas in modern elementary school education.