Relations as the aim of education in Joseon neo-Confucianism: The case of the Five Relationships

Abstract

This article attempts to explain through the lens of the Five Relationships the meaning of Joseon neo-Confucian view which emphasized relationship development as the aim and contents of education. In neo-Confucianism, education is the task of guiding learners in cultivating and unfolding capabilities in the relationships of everyday life. Within the context of neo-Confucianism, the development of competency in relationships was another expression of the educational goal of actualizing the ‘original nature’ including of the four virtues. Understanding the nature of education to be the embodiment of the original nature, neo-Confucian scholars sought its actual manifestation in everyday life, taking the practice of five particular relationships to be the core method. Encompassing both ‘knowing’ and ‘doing’ while progressing from the Elementary Learning into the Great Learning, neo-Confucian education characteristically takes the Five Relationships as both its foundation and its outcome. Despite the pre-modern limitations involved in the history of the practice of the Five Relationships, this neo-Confucian view of education prompts us to consider plainly the meaning of relationship development as the core contents and aim of education. Furthermore, this view affords prospects especially valuable for critically supplementing upon the discussion of a ‘pedagogy of relation’ introduced in academic circles in the West.

Keywords:

• Joseon neo-Confucianism
• Five Relationships
• relationship ethics
• neo-Confucian education
• pedagogy of relation

Notes

1. The original nature is understood in neo-Confucianism as both the wholly good nature of human beings and the very substance of principle (理), or the Tao (道). Concerning human nature, it is usually summarized in terms of the four virtues: benevolence (仁), righteousness (義), propriety (禮), and wisdom (智).

2. See Herr (2003) and Tu (1989, 1998) for examples.

3. The Five Relationships as explicated by Mèngzǐ are; ‘between father and son there is affection’ (父子有親), ‘between ruler and subject there is righteousness’ (君臣有義), ‘between husband and wife there is differentiation’ (夫婦有別), ‘between elder and younger there is order’ (長幼有序), ‘between friend and friend there is integrity’ (朋友有信). See Mèngzǐjízhù (3A:4). Mèngzǐ referred to the Five Relationships as the ‘Five Morals’ (五倫). The term ‘Five Relationships’ was adopted as the common English translation evidently because it emphasizes the actual content of these ‘Five Morals.’ Refer to Table 1 for variant appellations of the Five Relationships.

4. ‘Ministers serve the ruler, sons serve their fathers, and wives serve their husbands. If these three [relationships] are in harmony, the world will be in order. If these relationships are defied, then the world will be in chaos. This is the eternal Way of the world’ Hán (51:1).

5. It is worth noting that what is expressed literally as a ‘father-son’ relationship in the Confucian idiom refers in general to a parent–child relationship.

6. See the preface to Dàxuézhānggōu (Zhū), Shūtí (書題) and Tící (題辭) in Xiǎoxué (Zhū & Liu), and Sohakdo (小學圖) and Daehakdo (大學圖) in Seonghakshipdo (I, H.).

7. See Zǒnglún (總論) in Dàxuéhuòwèn (Zhū), and Sohakdo (小學圖) and Daehakdo (大學圖) in Seonghakshipdo (I, H.).