유학자들의 淸白吏論 고찰 - 茶山과 星湖를 중심으로

Abstract

Clean Government Employee Sprit is the noble sentiment representing the sense of mission and responsibility of the times. It further signifies the virtue of frugality and temperance in daily life based primarily on the value of purity and honest poverty. The essence of this spirit is strikingly reflected in the philosophy of Confucius, father of Confucianism. Clean government employee have been highly regarded as the model of conscience, intelligence and personality in the Korean society, or even as the source of energy for the life of Korean people. Although there had been some varying aspects of the times from the era of Three Kingdoms through Chosun Dynasty, Seonbis have unshakably kept their stands as intellectuals responsible for leading each period. They have never been involved in the sensual or materialistic desires of the world but have exclusively pursued after the lofty value toward the elevated sense of scholarship. Seonbi was not simply a symbol of status but the norm of personality and conscience of the times firmly rooting morality in the personal inner world or social order. In the global village which is getting more and more shrunken thanks to the progress of communications, transportation and mass media, Korea might only find its meaning of existence and potential for development through reviving and modernizing the wisdom of Clean government employee thought. The most characteristic of the Clean government employee thought may be the resistance against irregularities. Such spirit can be demonstrated from the cultivation of Confucian personality. The unshakable integrity, rigid courage braving the threat of sword, unyielding mentality and incessantly awakening pure mental state of Seonbis are only some that most of us still vividly share in memory. They are frequently compared to the contemporary petit intellectuals. The physiological limit and compromising attitudes of the so-called intellectuals during the period of Japanese colonial rule and in the process of modern history after the liberation are in sharp contrast with those of the scholars or Clean government employee in the traditional age, which is what our times require to review again seriously.