선진유가 정치사상에서 관대함의 의미

Abstract

Kuan(寬) is one of the key behaviors of the Confucian political tradition, but it has not been fully explained. In this article, I shed light on that the correct execution of punishment was emphasized, and at the same time, that there was Confucian generosity as a political attitude in early Confucianism. That Confucian generosity is a form of renzheng(仁政) that operates in the process of punishment. Contrary to the understanding of mainstream, the process of punishment can express the politician’s benevolence and has the effect of building social solidarity and edification. This paper focuses on the Kanggao(康誥) of the Shangshu and draws on other chapters of Shangshu to explore the specifics of Confucian generosity, which is both visible and not explained in the Lunyu. The ruler's generosity, which is compatible with the penal system, is manifested in the following ways: first, by being extremely cautious in making judgments; second, by applying objective criteria for commutation; and third, by weakening the overall standards and cruelty of punishment. In the Warring States Period, the attention to ruobaochizi(若保赤子) in the Kanggao(康誥) of the Shangshu, which represents political generosity, was used as a slogan to describe the Confucian political ideal, but interestingly the Mengzi did not emphasize it. This is because the generosity, which is similar to parental love, is a mechanism for the formation of a pseudo-family relationship in the political realm. In contrast to this position of the Xunzi and the Daxue(大學) of the Liji, the Mengzi rejects the interpretation of ruobaochizi(若保赤子) as an extension of familial attitudes and interprets it as a form of ceyinzhixin(惻隱之心) through using the famous case of ruzirujng(孺子入井). The Xunzi shows an aspect of solidarity in politics that resembles family, and the Mengzi shows that any agent with ceyinzhixin(惻隱之心), not just a politician, can be the agent forming solidarity. Through this understanding of generosity, we can see that, as a political practice that resembles the practice within a family, virtuous generosity is an attitude that enables the social solidarity that recognition embodies, but also has the potential to extend to personal practice.