Abstract

This study is an attempt to show the ethical characteristics of the idea of mutual beneficence shown in the concept of ‘guarding against self-deception’ in Daesoon Thought. Kant’s categorical imperative makes the good will grounded on reason, which is given from the intelligible world, as the maxim of autonomous and universal action. In Daesoon Thought, the restoration of conscience or nature given from heaven is presented as an imperative. Moreover, Daesoon thought voluntarily standardizes the idea of mutual-beneficence based on guarding against self-deception, which is the object and ground of cultivation. However, Kant’s ethics may encounter a situation of abandoning humanity by absolutizing ‘not committing falsehood’ as a universal law, regardless of the actor’s situational context. On the other hand, in Daesoon Thought, right comportment or conduct of life according to humanity, is a major virtue in realizing the idea of mutual- beneficence and humanity. The principle of symbiosis is also emphasized in consequentialist ethics such as utilitarianism and welfarism, which seek to ensure that the greatest number of people enjoy the greatest happiness. However, in this view of ethics, it is morally permissible to injure a specific person or commit a lie in order to maximize the overall utility. On the other hand, in Daesoon ideology, it is morally unacceptable to inflict injury or require sacrifice on a specific individual even if it contributes to the overall benefit. Rather, the ethical view of Daesoon Thought is characterized by modern virtue ethics that emphasizes the cultivation of subjective virtue and practical wisdom of moral actors, especially, the actor-centered virtue ethics. However, in contrast to the actor-centered virtue ethics with relativistic characteristics, the ethical view of mutual beneficence reveals a normative and relational characteristic of the Asian virtue ethics that seeks to spread the virtues of heaven to the world. One is required to cultivate oneself to become a moral gentleman who habituates Resolution of grievances for mutual beneficence until reaching the True stage of perfection of Dao as a completion of cultivation. In this way, it represents the ethical view of mutual beneficence in which cultivators practice the Resolution of grievances for mutual beneficence by resolving the conflicts or grievances that are caused by the mutual conflict between me and others, good and evil, and others. Here, the guarding against self-deception functions as a point of departure for practicing teleological virtue ethics, aiming at realizing the True stage of perfection of Dao, while working as the object of cultivation.