자와 묵자에 있어서의 私欲의 조정혹은 극복의 문제 - ‘수양’과 ‘지성의 운용’ -

Abstract

Selfish desires, throughout the traditions of East and West, have long been regarded as the hindrance to realization of the flourishing life of human being. Mencius’ and Mozi’ positions on this concept of selfish desires deserve our attention because they marked the beginning of the Hundred Schools of Thought and therefore lay the foundation for the later development of Far-East Asian thought. Both Mencius and Mozi view the selfish desires of political leaders as the biggest hindrance to the realization of world order though the selfish desires of ordinary people matter to some extent. This is because they, as in the case of other thinkers of the Hundreds Schools of Thought, take gradual progress from the above as an ideal change. Mencius takes the coordination of selfish desires as the way of avoiding selfish desires because he believes that the selfish desires of ordinary people are not different from those of the sage. Mozi, on the other hand, notes that the avoidance of selfish desires is possible only through the intelligence’s calculation of the profits and losses of them because selfish desires are based on emotions. This way, Mencius and Mozi suggest both cultivation and calculation as a way of avoiding selfish desires respectively. This article compares and analyzes both Mencius’ and Mozi’s positions on selfish desires and avoiding them. To conclude, this article points out that there are similarities as well as differences between them because Mencius’ way contains rational aspect and Mozi’s way emotional aspect beyond expectations.