중용의 원리와 성(誠)의 실현: 다산과 오규소라이의『중용』해석

Abstract

As an attempt to understand the Confucian Way through The Doctrine of the Mean, this thesis purports to clarify the relation between the mean (zhongyong, zhonghe) and the attentiveness (jing), the two pivotal principles of practicing the Way. For this purpose, it can be enlightening to compare the interpretations of The Doctrine of the Mean by Tasan of the Late Choson Korea and Ogyu Sorai of the Tokugawa Japan, since their thoughts present commonly the post-Zhuxian worldview, but out of different basic concerns. Tasans basic concern is to lay stress on the immanent and transcendental source of the Way and thence to reach out to concrete problems of its social practice. Whereas Ogyu Sorais concern is the social realization of the Way, that is, to relieve the world from pain. Therefore Tasan emphasizes the importance of the emotional and religious basis for building a human character, and tries to establish the virtuous nature of the inner as the foundation for realizing the Way in the society. This comes to his guiding principle of the consistence of the inside and the outside. Whereas Ogyu Sorai confirms the ritual and music (liyue), that are the alleged instructions of Confucian saints, as the foundation of the legal order of the society, and the virtuous nature as the condition for their realization. This comes to his main theme of adapting oneself to the instructions of the saints.