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A Study on Changes to Courtesy Consciousness in Zuo Zhuan

복대형 1

1대전송촌고등학교

Candidate

ABSTRACT

Judging from the recordings of Zuo Zhuan, the culture of the Spring and Autumn Period was under such absolute dominance of courtesy that it can be called the culture of courtesy and music in a word. However, the period also witnessed courtesy gradually losing its functions, as well. Zhou[周] Dynasty already lost its authority as a suzerain state, which in turn weakened the Zhou courtesy[周禮] that used to support the dynasty. Situations of “discourtesy[非禮]” to destroy courtesy were observed across the society. Under the contradictory situation, the contemporary intellectuals created a flow of more fundamental understanding of and insight into courtesy through the criticism and reflection upon the reality of discourtesy. Judging that such a flow became the ground for the formation of courtesy consciousness in later Confucianism, this study set out to investigate what were the realities of discourtesy they contemplated and what kind of changes happened to courtesy consciousness through the contemplation process. The flow of more fundamental understanding of and insight into courtesy moved toward exploration of courtesy’s archetype. Watching the prevalent situations of discourtesy, the intellectuals developed interest in the fundamental roles of courtesy and then started to explore the intrinsic aspects of courtesy. According to the recordings of Zuo Zhuan, the contemporary intellectuals tried to find its archetype from the religious perspective involving religious ceremonies for gods, from the life perspective of marriage between man and woman, and from the social perspective of maintaining harmony and order. Exploration into the archetype of courtesy naturally led to exploration into the nature of courtesy or the essential human spirit within courtesy. Zuo Zhuan pointed out “righteousness[義]” as the essential aspect of courtesy and “trust[信]” and “respect[敬]” as the basic attitudes to translate righteousness into courtesy. As diverse moral virtues were combined with the meanings of courtesy, which used to be regarded as form or ceremony, in Zuo Zhuan, courtesy was no longer courtesy as form and regulation imposed from outside and evolved into one of human’s autonomous and residential virtues to practice innate human morality. And it became the core of Confucian ideology that embraces humaneness[仁], righteousness[義], and courtesy[禮] and later the overall context of following Confucian ideology.

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