v. 1. Sŏngnihak pʻyŏn -- v. 2. Kyŏngse sasang pʻyŏn.

This paper reports two cases in Hong Kong involving two native Chinese adolescent cancer patients (APs) who were denied their rights to consent to necessary treatments refused by their parents, resulting in serious harm. We argue that the dynamics of the 'AP-physician-family-relationship' and the dominant role Chinese families play in medical decision-making (MDM) are best understood in terms of the tendency to hierarchy and parental authoritarianism in traditional Confucianism. This ethic has been confirmed and endorsed by various Chinese writers from (...) Mainland China and Hong Kong. Rather than giving an unqualified endorsement to this ethic, based more on cultural sentimentalism than rational moral reasoning, we warn that a strong familism in MDM, which deprives 'weak' family members of rights, represents the less desirable elements of this tradition, against which healthcare professionals working in this cultural milieu need to safeguard. Specifically for APs, we suggest that parental authority and family integrity should be re-interpreted in terms of parental responsibility and the enhancement of children's interests respectively, as done in the West. This implies that when parents refuse to consent to necessary treatment and deny their adolescent children's right to consent, doctors, as the only remaining advocates of the APs' interest, have the duty to inform the state, which can override parental refusal to enable the doctors to fulfill their professional and moral obligations. In so doing the state exercises its 'parens patriae' power to defend the defenseless in society and the integrity of the medical profession. (shrink)

v. 1. Sŏngnihak pʻyŏn -- v. 2. Kyŏngse sasang pʻyŏn.

Objectives: To investigate whether Chinese adolescents in Hong Kong share similar perceptions with their Western counterparts regarding their capacity for autonomous decision-making, and secondarily whether Chinese parents underestimate their adolescent children's desire and capacity for autonomous decision-making.Method:‘Healthy Adolescents’ and their parents were recruited from four local secondary schools, and ‘Sick Adolescents’ and their parents from the pediatric wards and outpatient clinics. Their perceptions of adolescents' understanding of illnesses and treatments, maturity in judgment, risk-taking, openness to divergent opinions, pressure from parents (...) and doctors, submission to parental authority and preference for autonomy in medical decision-making are surveyed by a 50-item questionnaire on a five-point Likert scale.Results: Findings indicate that Chinese adolescents aged 14–16 perceive themselves to possess the necessary cognitive abilities and maturity in judgment to be autonomous decision-makers like their Western counterparts. Paradoxically, although they hesitate to assert their autonomy, they are also unwilling to surrender that autonomy to their parents even under coercion or intimidation. Parents tend to underestimate their adolescents' preferences for making autonomous decisions and overestimate the importance of parental authority in decision-making.Conclusion:‘14-and-above’ Chinese adolescents in Hong Kong perceive themselves as capable of autonomous decision-making in medically-related matters, but hesitate to assert their autonomy, probably because of the Confucian values of parental authority and filial piety that are deeply embedded in the local culture. (shrink)

율곡은 생애를 철학자로서의 삶과 경세가로서의 삶으로 병행했다. 그의 학문은 이학(理學)으로서의 성리학과 기학(氣學)으로서의 경세학으로 구성되어 있다. 경세학의 철학적 근거가 성리학이고, 성리학의 현실적 구현이 경세학으로 드러난다. 성리학과 경세학이 체용일원으로 하나가 되고 회통하는 논리를 갖는 것이다. 그러므로 율곡학을 참으로 이해하는 것은 성리학과 경세학을 아울러 알 때 가능하다. 율곡은 세계에 내놓아도 부족함이 없는 위대한 철학자다. 그는 관념적인 철학자가 아니라 시대정신에 투철하고 나라와 백성에 대한 우환의식을 가지고 개혁에 앞장섰던 실천적 지성이었다. 이러한 율곡에 대한 이해는 이 시대를 살아가는 우리 모두의 교양이다.

1. Haeje, Ch'ongmok, T'ongnye 1, Ch'ongsaegin -- 2. T'ongnye 2, Kwallye, Hollye -- 3. Sangnye 1-3 -- 4. Sangnye 4-6 -- 5. Sangnye 7-8 -- 6. Cherye 1-2, Pyŏllye mongnok.