儒敎思想에서의 復古主義

The Weight of Antiquity in Confucianism

All Confucian-oriented societies have set ancient tradition above contem-porary reality. This is not surprising because a central theme of Confucianism has always been a return to ancient institutions and ways. This is not to say, however, that the Confucian philosophy has no element of progress or desire for reform. We go to the early Han for an example. That was the time when controversy arose over the recovery, made necessary after the destruction and dispersal of books in the preceding Ch in dynasty, of canonical texts. The Chin Wen (New Text) and Ku Wen (Ancient Style) schools that soon developed each championed its own particular set of works or varying versions of the same works. The Chin Wen school, unlike its rival, went in for new interpretations, including even a bold forward-looking view of the world. But this line of thinking stayed well within the realm of accepted tenets and so should in no way be considered a heretic aberration. Indeed, the new school might be an apt case where the wellknown saying about reviewing old things and learning new things was applied. And in this light restoration and progress struck a creative balance.