회남자(淮南子)에서 禮에 관한 一考察

This article focuses on the relationship between an individual's desire and li. Since li means propriety, etiquette, ritual and social order, it is understood as a social system to repress an individual's desire. However, li can be interpreted as a manual of controlling an individual's desire. Huainanzi is a text, in which the relationship between an individual's desire and li can be reexamined in a positive angle. Everyone wants to live a healthy and long life. Desire for life is a human instinct. An individual's desire often creates a conflict with other individuals, who equally search for their desires. Li provides social order for an individual. Li enables an individual to live with other individuals. If li is simply a social system to repress an individual's desire, an individual could never satisfy his desire including a desire for healthy and long life within society. This may be one reason for Confucian philosophers to relatively ignore the issue of human desire for healthy and long life and Daoist philosophers to consider it seriously. This article illustrates that social order given under the name of li, guides an individual to his desire in the condition of society. An individual needs others in order to live a healthy and long life. Therefore, it is necessary for an individual to control and maneuver his desire rather than repress it under the condition that other individuals pursue their desires in the same society.