저우쭤런의 인간학과 윤리 사상— ‘윤리의 자연화’ 담론을 중심으로

Abstract

The “Naturalization of Ethics” is a concept that represents the later thoughts of Zhou Zuoren in the 1940s. Zhou Zuoren believed that the existing ethics of Chinese society fundamentally stemmed from ignorance about humanity. He thought that instead of guiding people’s healthy consciousness and behavior, ethics were suppressing human nature, blocking individual freedom, and alienating people. At this time, The theoretical foundation of Zhou Zuoren’s anthropology was sociobiology and sexology. Through sociobiology, he came to understand the origins of morality along with the physiological and psychological characteristics of humans, and through sexology, he acquired the theoretical knowledge necessary to critique traditional Chinese ethical thought, particularly focusing on sexual morality. Zhou Zuoren raised issues regarding ethics at this time because he regarded ethical reform as a key and important task in the process of re-establishing Peopel’s Ideas thought based on the traditional Chinese philosophy of Confucianism (儒家Ru Jia). The Naturalization of Ethics aimed to address various ethical problems and evils created by Confucianism in reality, amid the dilemmas of its ideals and practicalities. It sought to reconstruct ethics based on respect for human nature and humanistic altruism, which were discovered in the original Confucianism(原始儒家). In this process, Zhou Zuoren emphasized the necessity of scientific knowledge about nature and humanity, including anthropology, folklore studies, sexology, and biology. Through such knowledge, he criticized instances in which existing social ethics or morals contradicted scientific common sense or suppressed human nature. He also sought to reconstitute traditional Chinese ethical thought and granted new value to intellectual or ideological traditions that were considered non-mainstream or heretical within the traditional ethical system.