• International journal of advanced smart convergence
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.204-213
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• 2019

Perhaps nothing more vividly illustrates the many different ways in which traditions can be interpreted than a study of the life of Confucius in modern times. In China and Korea, Confucian values and culture are dismissed and scorned during some periods and held up as facilitators of cultural prosperity in others. This changing perception of and attitude toward the Confucian tradition in modern society embodies the long life of the Confucian tradition and its continually evolving trajectory, as well as its versatility within shifting sociopolitical milieux spanning distance and time. In this paper, I investigate the (re)emergence of Confucius in modern Korea and China with a comparative and critical gaze. I demonstrate how different modern interpretations of Confucius, both negative and positive, in these two countries bring new life to the Confucian tradition within their own complex social realities. By focusing on the recent revival of Confucius in China-Anti-tradition of Korean dramas, the Restoration of Confucian Culture in China and Korean Wave, the modernity of China in Confucius are examined, and finally, in terms of the means of realization of the Chinese dream-I illuminate how the image of Confucius serves the (re-)invention of contemporary China, with her pervasive desire to romanticize and materialize China's past as well as her future.

• (The)Study of the Eastern Classic
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• no.69
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• pp.531-561
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• 2017

This article's aim is to contrast Dasan's commentary with Chu-tzu' and old commentary on The Meaning of learning(學) and ming(命) in Confucius Analects analects. Confucius Analects analects began with Confucius said, " Is it not pleasant to learn with a constant perseverance and application?"(1:1), and closed with Confucius said, "Without recognizing the ordinances of Heaven, it is impossible to be a superior man. We can consider Confucian analects as theory of science. I've tried to define the meaning of learning(學) in Confucius Analects, at first. The Meaning of learning in Confucian analects have 1) Technology, 2) the way of human relation, 3) liberal ar, and 4) 'learning to become a sage. Chu-tzu defines learning(學) in Confucius Analects as 'learning to become a sage'. Dasan's considered learning(學) as science in general. Chu-tzu' and old commentary defined zhiming(知命) in Confucius Analects is 'to know the fact that there is destiny in man's life(ex, life and death). Dasan reinterpreted ming(命) in Confucius Analects as human mind-nature.

• The Journal of Korean Philosophical History
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• no.29
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• pp.179-202
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• 2010

In addition to the emphasis on filial piety ethics in everyday life, filial piety obtained a further significance in Confucianism which had the strong sense of ancestor worship. This paper focuses on filial piety as a mechanism of continuity within Confucianism and points out that it owed its development to its connection to agricultural culture. The sedentary life with less mobility forged a relative intimacy among people and filial piety was the actual expression of that kind of intimate affection. Yet, filial piety in Confucianism created a unique culture in terms that it not only stipulated material and emotional support for parents but also expected one's piety to the further ancestors through a memorial service and made its connection to the infinite posterity through sons. From the perspective of Confucianism that established filial piety at the turning point from life to death, the self existing in present was not an isolated self anymore. Yet, one can see another characteristic of Confucianism from that filial piety, based on blood bonds, could move beyond paternalism to broaden itself. It could be expanded to the care for strangers. The aged experience and wisdom through agricultural life begot the insight that the nature made its infinite connections with everything through circulation. As a stone thrown in a pond would enlarge its boundary by drawing larger and larger concentric circles, this thought enabled people to enlarge their affection to their parents to universal humanity. In this enlarged network, though it was natural to make distinctions between the closer and the farther, Confucianism sought to overcome it by establishing oneself upright. Confucianism emphasized the moral cultivation with its filial piety concept that contained the diachronic thought penetrating life and death and the broadened perspective relating everything around. In Confucianism, filial piety provided an important medium in forming a moral subject that penetrated life and death and related self and others. Inherent in it is the Confucius thought of continuity that searched for a paragon of a moral human being regardless of time and space.

• Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences
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• v.17
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• pp.135-149
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• 2004

Socrates did not found a religion, and in this sense he is different from Confucius, Buddha and Jesus. So there can be no 'Socrates' religion'. But if we can assume that there are evidently religious aspects in his thought, and if it can become a religion by expanding these aspects, then we may conclude that 'Socratic religion' is possible. In general, there are three arguments to regard Socrates as a religious person. The first is to see him as a precursor of Christianity or a Christian martyr, the second is to regard Socrates' daimonion as identical with Christian revelation, and the third is to argue that Socrates was a religious person because of his firm belief in the immortality of soul. But in this paper, I argue that these three arguments offer some justifications but insufficient to conclude that he was a religious person. Shall we conclude then that not only Socratic religion is impossible but also he was not a religious person? I do not think so. For there are two counter arguments. Religious truths have at least two essential characteristics. First, those who have religious truths are absolutely happy, no matter what. This is why Socrates as a religious person could advise his disciples to improve their souls even at the time of his death bed. Second, those who have religious truths do love others, no matter what. How could it be possible for someone to love invisible ultimate reality if he did not love visible brothers? This is why Socrates as a religious person took his mission to philosophize as a divine command. Socrates did not initiate any official religion, but he was truly a devout religious person, who transcended the boundary of institutionalized religion. It follows that Socratic religion is evidently possible.

• (The)Study of the Eastern Classic
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• no.35
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• pp.387-414
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• 2009

This paper looks into the Confucius customs of Yiphu and Seungjung, that is respectively a problem of deciding the successor of the family and a matter of establishing Jongtong (宗統: the proper inheritance line of the family), especially concerning the funerary and ancestor memorial services through Seongho Lee Ik's discussion on proprieties, whose Yeahak (禮學: Studies on Proprieties) is representative of the eighteenth century Yeahak. Seongho Lee Ik sees that there is one penetrating principle that should apply the same concerning Jongtong, regardless whether it is for the state or for a family or whether it is for the royal family or for the gentry in or out of the state service. To establish this one penetrating principle, he emphasizes the manners that fit one's circumstance and social standing, proposed as the theory and practice of 'Seoin-garyea (庶人家禮: Proper customs that even common people with no official titles can practice in marking their important life events like coming-of-age, marriage, and death)'. These two aspects of Seongho seem at odds with each other at a glance. Yet given that he considers that keeping proprietary manners for their own social standings would help secure the fundamental social order, which is of supreme importance to him, it makes sense. Next, the most problematic issues about Seongjung and Yiphu are the timing when one can declare the 'absence of the patriarch' and the manner how one substitutes oneself for the absent patriarch. Seongho sees that it is one thing to 'inherit the Jongtong' and it is another to 'become a next patriarch'. Basically, he does not separate the problem of Jongtong by one's social standings. The real situation involved can be different based on one's social standing, he readily acknowledges. Yet, 'the unchangeable ethical principle between the father and the son' would prevail over the same regardless of classes, he insists. This attitude of his is in line with his philosophy of proprieties and his practical guidance that proposes 'Seoin-Garyea' with an appeal to establish fundamental social order based on the practice of proper manners in accordance of one's social standing as he philosophizes the rules of Jongtong on the base of the one penetrating principle.