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Reconciling the External Authority of Objective Rules with Moral Autonomy in Zhu Xi’s Moral Philosophy -Centering at His “Gu Shi Yu Lun”[古史餘論]-

  • Journal of Humanities
  • 2010, (46), pp.151-177
  • Publisher : Institute for Humanities
  • Research Area : Humanities > Other Humanities
  • Received : July 25, 2010
  • Accepted : August 20, 2010

Lee, Junghwan 1

1고려대학교

Candidate

ABSTRACT

The wide range of Zhu Xi’s scholarship can be broadly encapsulated into two categories—foundation of an enduring moral metaphysics and the establishment of normative culture. And each of them corresponds to the Mencian tradition which emphasizes the self-discovery of moral norms and the Xunzi’s tradition which underscores the necessity of objective behavioral rules and individual’s obedience to such objective rules, respectively. So far, these two polarities embedded in Zhu’s moral philosophy have been suggested by modern scholars,but it remains unsolved how these two polarities could be reconciled in Zhu’s scholarship in general. The objective of my work is to suggest an answer to this lingering question through analyzing Zhu’s criticism of Su Che’s Ancient History, entitled “Gu shi yu lun.” In this work, Zhu criticized Su’s populist theory of cultural creation,and on this basis justified the exclusive authority of sages in establishing normative cultures. Particularly, I have approached this question from the perspective that if objective norms must have been created on the basis of human nature inherent in each and every individual person, the relationship between objective norms and moral agents should be understood in terms of autonomous “consent/refusal” instead of “obedience/disobedience.” Through this,I have drawn a conclusion that even though Zhu’s moral philosophy does not fully endorse individual moral autonomy, it has a structure which can reconcile the necessity of objective norms with the moral autonomy of individual agent.

Citation status

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This paper was written with support from the National Research Foundation of Korea.