Balancing between Innate Morality and Moral Agency: Zhu Xi’s Interpretation of the Sixteen Character Teaching
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It is of no exaggeration to say that the Mencian thesis that human nature is good consists of the core tenet of the entire Neo-Confucian tradition and that Zhu Xi’s grand philosophical system is also designed mainly to undergird this thesis. However, this thesis involves a philosophical problem, which arises from the possible incompatibility between the spontaneity of human nature or innate morality and the moral will of an agent. The main objective of this article is to address this question inherent in Zhu Xi’s philosophy, particularly through analyzing his interpretation of the sixteen character teaching—“Rexin 人心 is precarious; daoxin 道心 is subtle. Being discerning (jing 精) and being undivided (yi 一). Holding on to the mean (zhong 中)”—, which he extolled as the genuine essence of the teaching of the sages. This article reveals a dualistic feature underlying Zhu Xi’s philosophical system, which, on the one hand, fosters the belief in human nature as the self-perfect source of morality and on the other, underlines a significant limitation in comprehending this innate morality by a moral agent. Ultimately, this article shows that he thus intended to seek a proper balance between the belief in innate morality and the moral responsibility of a voluntary agent in order both to avoid an excessive belief in innate morality, which is liable to radical subjectivism or antinomianism, and to defend the validity of practical principles prescribed in the Confucian classics, such as ‘investigation of things (格物).’
Abstract
It is of no exaggeration to say that the Mencian thesis that human nature is good consists of the core tenet of the entire Neo-Confucian tradition and that Zhu Xi’s grand philosophical system is also designed mainly to undergird this thesis. However, this thesis involves a philosophical problem, which arises from the possible incompatibility between the spontaneity of human nature or innate morality and the moral will of an agent. The main objective of this article is to address this question inherent in Zhu Xi’s philosophy, particularly through analyzing his interpretation of the sixteen character teaching—“Rexin 人心 is precarious; daoxin 道心 is subtle. Being discerning (jing 精) and being undivided (yi 一). Holding on to the mean (zhong 中)”—, which he extolled as the genuine essence of the teaching of the sages. This article reveals a dualistic feature underlying Zhu Xi’s philosophical system, which, on the one hand, fosters the belief in human nature as the self-perfect source of morality and on the other, underlines a significant limitation in comprehending this innate morality by a moral agent. Ultimately, this article shows that he thus intended to seek a proper balance between the belief in innate morality and the moral responsibility of a voluntary agent in order both to avoid an excessive belief in innate morality, which is liable to radical subjectivism or antinomianism, and to defend the validity of practical principles prescribed in the Confucian classics, such as ‘investigation of things (格物).’
참고문헌 (14)
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