先秦儒學의 ‘學’과 人性

Abstract

Confucian thinkers emphasized learning, and they held that learning separated from moral behavior is almost meaningless. So we expect that there exist close relationships between Confucian learning and their theory of human nature. Confucian thinkers who believe in the innate goodness of human nature is quite defensive in the theory of moral development. For them it is very important to keep intact the original goodness of human nature and to extend it against all the elements of contamination. On the contrary, for the thinkers who believe that inborn human nature is bad, it is very important to modify and change the original badness of haman nature by inculcating li(禮) or proper ways of doing things. Naturally their ways of educating people are far more aggressive. For all these differences, the author concludes that these two theories are complementary rather than contradictory. Each emphasized either the development of inner self or internalization of proper rules, and both of them put great emphasis on li(禮) as the axis of human relations.