하곡학의 현대적 지평과 역할

Abstract

This study investigates an alternative approach and the role of Hagok School in addressing the social and existential crises faced by people living in contemporary society. The reason we can discern a trace of modern prospects in Hagok School, a traditional study, is that it fundamentally pursued timeliness and emphasized principles inspired by the people. Taking the position that a practical principle would come from mind, Hagok School believed that loyalty could change depending on the time and place. This represented a much more liberal interpretation of loyalty compared to that of Zhu-xi, who amalgamated gyeong-do(normative ethics) and gwon-do(situation ethics) as loyalty, and upheld a limited perspective, suggesting that the realization of gwon-do would only be achievable by saints. In addition, the principle of public sympathy[感通] can be a criterion of the realization of yangji[良知] the key idead of Hagok School. Hagok School provides a useful inspiration to the “post-truth phenomenon”, one of the most representing social crises in our time. Under the post-truth phenomenon spreading through various media is there an error of false equivalence prevalent in the society under the guise of balance or fairness. Hagok School refused mechanical neutrality, which is corresponding to false equivalence in faction politics, called it false fairness not truth one, and further criticized false moral principles. Moreover, Hagok School can offer a method of self-examination even in the existential crisis of humans, such as data bias and inadequate categorization, and violation of human rights, surrounding data, the source of AI development. Since ethical examination in the process of AI development is a more urgent and fundamental issue than ethical examination on the goal of AI development, it is critical for us to ask and reflect on the reason why we work on AI development before we engage in the actual development process. This corresponds to the independent self-examination of yangji in Hagok School. In this aspect, it is necessary to re-interpret the cultivation principle of Hagok School from modern perspectives. To catch the weakness in the doctrines of Chu-tzu concerning the link between the knowing and the practicing in a moral way, and to suggest the role and development method of moral intuition is the proposition of jihaenghabil(知行合一), meaning knowing and acting is one, and simjeukri(心卽理), meaning the moral principle of practice comes from minds. Especially, the pursuit of recovering the inherent properties of yangji, such as autonomy and fairness, has significant implications for the existential crisis of modern humans. Furthermore, the cultivation principle of Hagok School progressed into diverse aspects to the extent that, for example, it discussed the synthesis of Neo-Confucianism and Yangmingism, and emphasized seongmyungssangsu(性命雙修) from the perspective of mutual unification among the three doctrines, Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism. A further study is required to examine this.