권도론(權道論) 연구

Abstract

This study aims to understand the concept of ‘Gwondo’ more in detail and to figure out the issues of it, by examining ‘Gwondo’ theory during the reign of King Injo of Joseon Dynasty, especially, the one raised, surrounding the issue of entry into a friendly relation with Qing Dynasty during Byeongja Horan (The Manchu Invasion of Korea in 1636). ‘Gwondo’ that Confucius and Mencius suggested and Zhu xi recognized the necessity was an important concept of practical philosophy of Confucianism, which leads ‘Gyungdo,’ the universal code of ethics to securing the ‘circumstance (occasion)’ for the changing reality. For this, ‘Gwondo’ sometimes, allows irregularities running counter to ‘Gyungdo,’ and this is an inevitable measure considering the situation of reality, but there is a possibility of misuse or distortion by personal desire or scheme. Therefore, in order to use Gwondo, one should be able to answer the following three questions. 1) Is it a situation in which Gwondo really has to be used? (Is there no other way to realize Gyungdo if not Gwondo?) 2) Is there any other Gwondo? (Is this Gwondo the best way?) 3) How to justify the Gwondo used now? (How to make it ultimately correspond to ‘Gyungdo’?) As Byeongja Horan broke out, Choi Myung-gil insisted on the entry into a friendly relation with Qing Dynasty (Advocating peace) based on Gwondo, and at the time, controversies took place among intellectuals with these three issues. This study focuses on this part, and especially, deals with the logic and ideological base on which Choi Myung-gil put forth his Gwondo Theory. It would provide important implications in the problems of situation ethics and practical philosophy.