유학의 인간관과 예 (禮)의 의미 = Confucian View of Man and Confucian Ritual

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

There has been no $quot;transcendental pretence$quot; in Chinese cultural mileu at least since Confucius. Almost all philosophical trends in China have no interests in the transcendental realm beyond the changing world of myriad things between Heaven and Earth, where we human beings conduct our ordinary lives with all other beings. Chinese view of man, including Confucianist one, has been influenced by the thought that all things are in change and motion.
Strictly speaking, Confucianism is neither religion nor philosophy. It is nothing more than an aggregation of living wisdoms to teach filial piety and brotherly politeness. It can be said that the practice of filial piety and brotherly politeness in family is the unchageable essence of Confucianist teachings through ages. The fact that these two cardinal virtues are regarded as important to maintain the hierarchical orders in patriarchal family reveals how to think about man in Confucian wisdoms. Confucian view of man is rooted in the biological and sociological fact that man is born into his family and nurtured within his family by his own parents before he becomes a mature man as an individual or a member of human society. In Confucianism, as a matter of course, the family as a necessary condition for a man to become a man means a patriarchal form of family.
What is man? Confucinist answer is simple. Man is son of his parents and brother of his brothers. If Confucian view of man as a member of his family is the correct way of describing how man lives in this world, we can say that man is not so much $quot;Being-the-world$quot;(Heidegger) as $quot;Being-in the-family.$quot;
We cannot imagine Confucianism without complicated ritual system. Confucian ritual, though originated from religeous ritual, is a totality of various sociopolitical orders including a kinds of patterns of human behavior in family, society, and government. But all popular customs and governmental institutions can not be called Confucian ritual. Model of good ritual to be followed by Confucina scholars has been already established in Confucian Classics. And the core structure of Confucian ritual system written in Confucian Classics is nothing other than the hierarchical orders of patriarchal family system. In other words, Confucian ritual is reflecting the famlistic view of man.
Nowadays Confucianism with its ritual system is regarded as outdated feudal legacy. But the biological and sociological conditions of man's living into which Confucianism takes its root has not yet undergone a change at Icast in structural level. If it is true that the structure of our ordinary way of living will not be changed in the future, Confucian tradition of the pre-modern East Asia can be used as an important reference to remedy many social diseases in modern life.