맹자 사상에서 도덕의 내재성 문제 — 孟子 義內說에 대한 朱熹의 해석을 중심으로 —

Abstract

This article re-illuminates the debate between Gaozi and Mencius on era of moral perception, and furthermore tries to investigate the meaning of Mencius’ moral internalism.(義內) First, this article researches what Gaozi‘s theory of perception and then Mencius’ theory of moral perception. According to this article, the difference between two thinkers can be dependent on the each significances of perception function. Gaozi regarded function of perception as passive which unilaterally reflected the properties of objects, while Mencius emphasized moral ability of perception that can catch the moral meanings from amoral things. And this article elucidate Mencius’ moral internalism from the viewpoint of Zhu Xi. According to this, It is not that Mencius rejected externality of moral, but can be told that he regarded investigation of external things as inevitable. Finally, this article tries to discover the ultimate significance of Mencius’ moral philosophy. Mencius believed that the foundation of morality was rooted inner mind, but reached forward to the moral realm that could encompass internal and external worlds.