王權과 禮治에 대한 {周禮}의 문제의식

Abstract

This study attempts to explain the theory of the state in “The Rites of Zhou" (Zhouli 周禮) which outlines a theory of ideal monarchical government where “courtesy is heightened and sages respected" while maintaining external characteristics of a more positive theory of an autocratic state wherein a specialized hierachical order is administered through a system of law. The ancient classical writings of Zhouli, which generally has “tendencies that are easily combined with attitudes of humanism (人間主義) or materialism (實質主義)," is proscribed politically as a work that strengthened “the restorationist Confucian ritualism (禮敎主義) that has been linked to decentralization and local powers". This system is not a result of advancing towards despotism where royal authority is made legally absolute. Rather, it is attributable to a proscribed plan that attempts to control royal authority internally by laws of propriety. Zhouli does not allow the ruler's status to be relativized vis-a-vis the nobility by making no substantive enactments regarding the position and duties of the ruler. This method is the ultimate objective of the Zhouli, which attempts to allow the ruler's authority and status to be revealed transcendentally. This is because the ruler's authority and status, established in this manner, does not lead towards absolutism through the strengthening of a legally proscribed government. Rather, it is thought that the Zhouli has a dual structure in which this system of “laws of propriety" intensifies the spirit of ritualism and materializes it as an system of rites that is fundamentally superior to a system of laws.