동중서의 천인관계론 ‒ 개념체계의 진리 인식 결정력

Abstract

The main purpose of this study is to show that the conceptual system implied in the Tian-Ren Relations theory of Dongzhongshu(179?~104? B.C.) played a decisive role in the perceptions of truth in the Confucian society of East Asia. The study would demonstrate that the categorization of the conceptual system proposed by Dongzhongshu was a case of strong influences on the Confucian society for 2,000 years or so and check its authority as a standard of an official conceptual system. Dongzhongshu’s Tian-Ren Relations theory was a “ruler-centric” ideological system fit for the political goals of Emperor Wu of Han and can be defined as a product of idealization with a certain intention inserted. Dongzhongshu’s conceptual system was a decisive criterion of social justification to deify the ruler’s power and reduce the status of the ruled relatively. A conceptual system contributes to the political, social, and cultural existence, discussions about the structuralization and gender discriminations of a power structure, and the justification of patriarchal relations. The society controls the consciousness and behavior of individuals through the purposeful distribution of a conceptual system. Our consciousness and lives are systematically trained, disciplined, and socialized by an official conceptual system. Now there is a need to ask questions about conceptual systems in which “our consciousness and lives” are organized and assessed.