동서양의 많은 철학자들이 인간의 본성에 대해 지속적인 관심을 가져왔다. 그들은 인간의 본성을 규명함으로써, 인간이 왜 그러저러한 방식으로 존재했고, 존재하고 있으며, 또한 존재할 수밖에 없는가를 밝히고자 했다. 하지만 지금까지 다양한 학문분야에서 인간을 이해하려는 많은 시도가 있었음에도 불구하고, 아직까지 모두를 만족시킬 만큼 성공적이지 못했다. 이 글은 과거의 성과를 돌이켜봄으로써, 우리가 앞으로 나아가야 할 방향을 새롭게 설정해본다.
이 글에서 나는 인성과 물성에 대해 깊은 성찰을 했던 중국의 주희(1130-1200)와 고대 그리스의 아리스토텔레스(기원전 384-322)를 비교하고, 그들이 제시했던 인간의 본성 개념이 무엇인가를 논의하고, 또한 그에 대한 근거가 얼마나 체계적이고 타당한 방식으로 제시되는가를 평가한다. 이를 통해, 우리는 인간 탐구의 새로운 길을 모색하고, 인간의 본질적인 가치를 찾는 계기를 모색할 수 있을 것이다.
Many philosophers in the East and the West have had the continuous concern for human nature. The reaosn for their concern is to illustrate why human beings lived, live, and will live in such and such a way. Although lots of efforts have been made in various fields of study, none of them have been so successful as to satisfy all the scholars who are concerned with the problem of human nature. Since this is the case, I shall try to establish a new way to view human nature by reconsidering the views produced in the past. In this paper, I shall compare the views of the Chinese philosopher, Chu Hsi(1130-1200), with those of the ancient Greek philosopher, Aristotle(384-322 B. C.), both of whom were deeply concerned with the problem of human nature and animal nature, discuss what their conceptions of human nature were, and evaluate how well and validly they presented their own ground for the conceptions. Through this discussion, we shall be able to find a new way to study human beings and the real value of human beings.
Many philosophers in the East and the West have had the continuous concern for human nature. The reaosn for their concern is to illustrate why human beings lived, live, and will live in such and such a way. Although lots of efforts have been made in various fields of study, none of them have been so successful as to satisfy all the scholars who are concerned with the problem of human nature. Since this is the case, I shall try to establish a new way to view human nature by reconsidering the views produced in the past. In this paper, I shall compare the views of the Chinese philosopher, Chu Hsi(1130-1200), with those of the ancient Greek philosopher, Aristotle(384-322 B. C.), both of whom were deeply concerned with the problem of human nature and animal nature, discuss what their conceptions of human nature were, and evaluate how well and validly they presented their own ground for the conceptions. Through this discussion, we shall be able to find a new way to study human beings and the real value of human beings.
