The Proper Filial Piety Examined through the Life of Jeong Yeo-chang

This paper examines the true meaning of filial piety, which is misunderstood even today, by looking into the life of Ildu Jeong Yeo-chang (1450-1504). In Chapter II, we looked at the filial piety in the correct sense that Jeong Yeo-chang understood. Jeong Yeo-chang did not call himself a filial son, and thought that it would be incorrect if he was recommended to a government office because he was not a filial son. Accordingly, he refused to be appointed to public office given to those who practiced filial piety. Jeong Yeo-chang never understood filial piety as a means. Chapter III examines Dasan Jeong Yak-yong (1762-1836)'s criticism of the use of filial piety as a means of success. According to Jeong, some people at the time rumored to be good at filial piety and wanted to exempt themselves from servitude by recommending their parents as excellent in filial piety. They understood filial piety as a means of doing so and sought to profit from it without doing so. Chapter IV criticized the problems of modern Korean society using filial piety as a means of entering university, and confirmed that Jeong Yeo-chang's filial piety is still meaningful today.