KOREAN CONFUCIANISM AND ITS
IMPACT ON KOREAN CULTURE
Korean Values: Confucianism
Confucianism has long been accepted
and revered by Koreans as an essential
system of ethics or moral codes.
Korea is said to be the most
Confucianized society in the world, more
so than Japan and China, where
Confucianism originated.
Every Korean can be said to be
Confucian, for he or she acts in a
Confucian manner every step of the way
in social interactions.
• Surveys show that Koreans in general
subscribe to Confucian values such as
filial piety and loyalty and observe the
basic Confucian rituals such as burial
rites and ancestor worship.
• In terms of “conviction” and “practice,”
therefore, practically every Korean,
including Buddhists and Christians, is
said to be Confucian.
The Confucian moral order comprises
Samgangoryun (Three Cardinal Principles and
Five Ethical Norms).
Three Cardinal Principles:
1. goonwisingang (군위신강) or the relationship
between king and subject, with the emphasis on
loyalty of the subject to the ruler (choong);
2. buwijagang (부위자강) or the relationship
between father and son, with the emphasis on
filial piety to parents (hyo); and
3. buwibugang (부위부강) or the relationship
between husband and wife, with the emphasis
on the latter’s chastity, obedience, and
faithfulness to husband as well as her filial piety
to parents (yeol).
Five Ethical Norms (Oryun) dealt with
responsibilities and obligations governing
the relations between individuals:
1. 의 (ui)—the principle of righteousness and
justice between the ruler and his subjects;
2. 친 (chin)—cordiality or closeness between
parents and sons;
3. 별 (byeol)—distinction between husbands
and wives, i.e., wives’ inferior status;
4. 서 (suh)—order or seniority between elders
and juniors; and
5. 신 (shin)—trust between friends
• Regardless of social status, all people
were expected to behave according to
these prescribed principles.
• Those who did not subscribe to these
values were regarded as uncivilized
persons without principles and selfcultivation.
Confucian Values
• 1. Filial piety
- Filial piety stipulates the immense debt
of children to their parents and by
extension, of individuals to their
ancestors.
- It demands strict obedience, unwavering
respect for authority, and emotional,
financial and ritual care of parents and
ancestors by the offspring.
Filial piety is performed at three levels:
1) take care of the parents while they are
alive;
2) hold an elaborate funeral when they
die; and
3) conduct ancestral rituals on death
anniversaries and on Korean
Thanksgiving and Lunar New Year’s Day.
* There is no real escape from the culture
of filial piety in Korea.
2. Ancestor Worship
- These sentiments of filial piety and
family loyalty are reinforced through
ancestor worship, the culturally most
significant feature of Korean customs.
- Ancestor worship is generally viewed as
a ritualization of the moral importance of
filial piety, and the ritual itself is seen as
a faithful demonstration of filial piety.
• Ancestor worship is based on the
principle of the immortality of the dead
ancestor; ancestors or their spirits live on
as their sons commemorate them
through the dutiful and regular
performance of ancestral rites.
• The offspring perform ancestral rites not
only on death anniversaries but also on
such culturally significant holidays as the
Lunar New Year’s Day) and Korean
Thanksgiving.
• 3. Emphasis on education
• 4. Collectivism
• 5. Emphasis on social harmony and
conformity
• 6. Emphasis on loyalty
• 7. Deference to the elderly
• 8. Emphasis on hierarchy
• 9. Other Korean values may include
ethnic homogeneity, son preference, and
respect for authority
MERITS AND DEMERITS OF
CONFUCIANISM
Q: What are the merits of Confucianism?rit
Merits
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deference to societal interests
encouragement of the learning
emphasis on self-cultivation and education
respect for ethics and morality
diligence and hard work
respect for probity, loyalty and righteousness
emphasis on social harmony
respect for authority
consensus over confrontation
filial piety
Demerits
• Q: What are the demerits of Confucianism?
• respect for hierarchy → inability to question those in
authority
• hierarchical orientation → reverence for titles
• hierarchical social structure → grant only obligations
and no rights to the inferior partner of any relationship
and the virtues recommended take on a tone of
conformity and passivity as social mores destined for
the support of a ruling elite.
• emphasis on learning → weakened commercialindustrial capacity; disrespect for manual labor
• ancestor worship → reverence for the past
• boy-preference
• attachment to the family → nepotism, factionalism,
clanism
• the importance of personal relationships rather than
formal legality → cronyism, school ties, regional ties
• emphasis on consensus → corrupt politics
• conservatism: respect for the past
• respect for authority → rigidity and an inability to
innovate
• compromise and self-sacrifice over the protection of
the rights of the individual
• strong emphasis on decorum, rites and ceremony
• an ideology for the dominant class