"Ren" and the Quiet Dissolution of the Ego: A Confucian–Schopenhauerian Convergence toward Non-Egoic Politics

This paper offers a reinterpretation of the Confucian concept of 仁 (ren, 인) as presented in the Analects, arguing that ren should not be understood primarily as a moral virtue, social ideal, or emotional benevolence. Instead, ren is examined as a transformed condition of human existence in which ego-centered will loosens its grip and ethical harmony arises spontaneously. Focusing on Confucius’s formulation 克己復禮爲仁, this study interprets 克己 (keji, 극기) not as moral self-restraint, but as the overcoming of ego-centered identification rooted in the illusion of absolute individuation. Within this framework, 禮 (li, 례) is reinterpreted as the natural ethical form that manifests once ego-driven calculation has fallen silent, rather than as an externally imposed system of ritual or propriety. To articulate the philosophical depth of this transformation, the paper places Confucian thought in dialogue with Arthur Schopenhauer’s analysis of the will. Schopenhauer’s notion of the identity of the will provides a metaphysical articulation of the experiential shift implied by 극기, while his concept of aesthetic contemplation illuminates Confucius’s appreciation of the Book of Songs, encapsulated in the remark 詩三百 思無邪. The absence of 邪 is interpreted as freedom from the highest form of the will’s objectification—reflective human egoism—thereby revealing 사무사 as a poetic analogue to aesthetic contemplation. On this basis, 禮 is defined as the ethical counterpart of aesthetic contemplation: action arising without ego-centered calculation. By integrating ontological, aesthetic, and ethical dimensions, this paper argues that ren names a lived realization of shared human ground rather than a system of moral prescriptions. In doing so, it presents Confucian ethics as a deeply philosophical tradition that addresses the roots of human conflict and articulates the possibility of non-coercive ethical harmony through transformed perception and practice. Keywords.