류성룡의 신념윤리와 책임윤리

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to re-examine the statesman Ryu Seong-ryong’s political calling and leadership in terms of the balance between the moral and the political, or the balance between ethics of conviction and ethics of responsibility. To clarify this point, this article first examines the problems of morality and politics, the two central themes of Confucianism. Secondly, as a conceptual premise of Ryu’s leadership, this article will examine Max Weber’s concepts of conviction ethics and responsibility ethics. Lastly, I will review ethical elements in Ryu’s leadership, focusing on three points: his national view, the basic principles of his policy promotion, and his personnel policy. During the Imjin war (1592-1598), Ryu Seong-ryong emphasized the wide collection of public opinion. In addition, he emphasized not only the importance of listening to diverse public opinions, but also that of discerning the right opinions from the wrong. The reasons why Ryu emphasized listening to public opinion and discerning the right public opinion could be threefold: to establish security, to restore the economy, and to rehabilitate communal morality. Like Confucius, Ryu prioritized the economy over security for the purpose of gaining public sentiment in real politics. However, Ryu considered that the economy and security were basically the matters of trust. Although the Imjin war destroyed the national economy, Ryu sought to draw upon the past mistakes to remedy the problems of government and to restore the people’s trust in the state. Such were the purposes for which Ryu authored the Jingbirok. As is well known, the title comes from the “jingbi (懲毖)” chapter of the Book of Odes. Ryu thought that to learn lessons from the past could not be sufficient to prevent repeating the same mistakes in the future. He suggests further that the lessons of the past should be interpreted in a creative way in order to prepare for the future. For this reason, he alludes to the future-oriented meanings of jingbi, as exemplified in the term, jingchang (懲創), “to guard against and to create.”