沈大允의 『論語』 해석의 일 단면 - 利와 忠恕를 중심으로

Abstract

Baekun(白雲) Shim DaeYoon(沈大允) was born in a noble household, and his household was a member of Disciple’s Faction[少論]. However, his household had studied Yangming learning[陽明學] from generation to generation, and in his great-grandfather’s generation, his household was faced with a disaster that wiped out a whole family. For this reason, his family was barely keeping their life as a noble household, and he should had to be a merchant to maintain his family’s livelihood. Although he was under these unfavorable conditions, he wrote enormous books about Confucianism and marked a representative Confucian in 19th century. He excluded Han dynasty learning[漢學], occupied with the meaning of word and phrase, and Chŏng Chu learning[程朱學], tends to be theoretical and abstract. These academical tendencies was resulted from Yangming learning and merchandising activities. Moreover, he emphasized an empirical and practical attitude that the interpretations of Confucian classics must be based on body texts[經文] and people’s reality. He thought that pursuing profit[利] is in innate nature, Ch’onmyŏngchisong (天命之性), and that if a human extremely pursues profit, this might be possible to destroy mankind. Therefore, he wanted to make an ideal world where people have loyalty[忠] and consideration[恕] so that they share their own profit with others, so-called Yŏyindongli(與人同利). He called this moral state Chigong chi do(至公之道), the most utilitarian profit, in his book. He also tried to solve the domestic and foreign problems in the 19th century through interpreting the Analects[論語].