맹자(孟子)를 통해 본 고독사에 관한 연구

Abstract

According to the Population and Housing Census conducted by the National Statistical Office, the proportion of single-person households, which was 12.7% in 1995, was 27.2% (5.2 million households) in 2015, and this phenomenon continues to increase. It shows that family - oriented households that have traditionally reside with a large number of members are gradually transforming into various types of residential forms, including single - family households. It is no longer unfamiliar to see more and more studio apartments and restaurants for one person in Korea in 2018. In this way, there are steadily increasing the number of individuals who live alone because of various reasons such as choosing a single life for a more free life or for economic issue or divorce or bereavement from the form of a family through marriage. However, these changes do not always have positive aspects. For example, the decrease in population due to the low fertility rate, the increase in the tax burden of the younger generation due to aging, the issue about the welfare of the elderly, and increasing die alone are emerging as new problems in modern society. Especially, the severity of die alone, in which dead bodies are found after a long period of death, is continuing to increase due to various reasons such as social indifference and family demolition. By the way, when we see the words of Confucius, "That parents, when alive, be served according to propriety; that, when dead, they should be buried according to propriety; and that they should be sacrificed to according to propriety." and Mencius explains the analogy of funeral, human life is important even when it is alive, but it is also significant to finish it well at the end of life. In addition, as we see the fact that King wen(文王) served the benign rule to the four types of people who are widows and widowers, orphans and the aged without children to support them(鰥寡獨孤) as a representative example, It can be considered to study about die alone issue academically in the Confucian view. Especially it is the last scene of life that no one wishes such as ending after a lonely and uneasy life for various reasons, not being able to receive proper funeral after that, and even being left unattended for a long time. Therefore, In this paper, we analyze the causes and backgrounds of die alone and examine the characteristics of Mencius' s political philosophy and try to find the solution with this.