中國 古代의 ‘勢’, ‘聖’론의 변화와 專制君主論의 형성

Abstract

The Shift of Meaning of two letters-power(勢) and the letter of saint (聖)-and the Establishment of the Chinese Autocracy in the Ancient China Min, Hu-Ki* This paper examines how Chinese autocracy took shaped, by tracing the meaning of two letters- letter of 勢 and the letter of 聖. To begin with, it was the Spring-Fall and Warring period when two letters -覇 and 勢- was used frequently and got the specific meaning. This paper argues that the historical backdrop that two letters had their own meaning had something to do with what the monarchy system changed into the autocracy and with the trend of Chinese society toward the bureaucracy. Secondly, the letter of 聖 in a original sense meant the ability to hear from the distance, likewise the letters of sŏng(聲) and ch’ŏng(聽). In the Warring period, however, the concept of saint-emperor (聖人帝王論) was idealized, supporting the powerful monarch (勢君). Lastly, this paper ,through the analysis of Wisŏ(緯書),investigated the establishment of hierarchy combining both human and nature with the reinforcement of the rights of emperor in the Han dynasty. As a result, the feudal lords who had been equal to the monarch was placed at the limited position under the bureaucracy and became bureaucrats under the control of Hyŏngmyŏngsul(刑名術).