• Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences
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• v.36
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• pp.117-152
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• 2020

In Daesoon Thought, Matteo Ricci is regarded highly as a Jongjang, 'religious leader,' (of Christianity). This paper deals with the life and philosophical/theological thought of Matteo Ricci as homo-religiosus from the perspective of phenomenology of religion. Examining his historical background and biographical sketch, I will analyze Ricci's understanding of God, humanity, and salvation and re-evaluate his relationship with Daesoon Thought. Matteo Ricci, born in Italy, became a Jesuit missionary to China and transmitted various products of western civilization. Accepting the pro-cultural approach of Jesuit mission, he applied it to Chinese culture and language by learning the Chinese language and regarding Chinese people as his friends. This was a sympathetic way to transmit Western religion and culture while on Chinese soil. He suggested eight reasons to look towards the future of China with optimism and taught Chinese people his Christian message through his indirect means of understanding and persuasion. In China, Jesuit missionaries called the Christian God 'Tianzhu (Cheonju in Sino-Korean),' meaning Lord of Heaven. Ricci identified the Confucian notion of 'Shangdi (Sangje in Sino-Korean),' meaning Supreme Emperor (or God) with Tianzhu. While translating Confucian scriptures, he found the common ground between Confucianism and Christianity to be the monotheism of ancient Confucianism. He criticized the concepts of God in Buddhism and Daoism, and justified the Christian doctrine of God by way of a Confucian understanding of deity. Ricci's understanding of humanity was based on his Christian faith in creation, and he criticized the Buddhist concept of transmigration. He proposed Christian ethics and doctrine of salvation by using discourse on the afterlife and in particular, the concepts of heaven and hell. Concerning the relationship between Daesoon Thought and Ricci, the following aspects should be examined: 1.) Ricci's contribution to the cultural exchanges between East and West, 2.) his peaceful approach to his mission based on dialogue and persuasion, 3.) the various activities conducted by Ricci as a Christian leader, and 4.) his belief in miraculous healings. His influence on Korea will likewise be explored. Ricci's ultimate aim was to communicate with Asian people and unify East and West under a singular worldview by emphasizing the similarities between the Christian and Confucian concepts of God.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Library and Information Science
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.89-123
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• 1996

The world has moved from the Cold War between the east and the west and moved toward the age without idealogy. It places emphasis on economic benefit and welfare of its own nation as its main point With this world trend, in order to sam the competitiveness and the reconciliation of the divided nation the north and the south Korea should be united. Once the north and the south are united, information society will be altered with the huge flow of the civilization. At the same time, the issue of how to operate library policies and system, in which effective acquisition, manipulation, accumulation, and dissemination of information un would be very important. From this point of view, the following conclusions are obtained in this study. Firstly, when building a national library preparing for the national unification. it is essential to introduce 1) the concept of policy and system for information society and 2) that of policy and system which has national-culture as its focus. Secondly, it is essential to prepare the cooperative-structure between libraries prior to the national unification. This kind of cooperation should gradually expand to an extent that allows actual benefits such as building union catalog, inter-library loan system, resource sharing, standardized cataloging rules, and exchange of dissertation... etc. Thirdly, developing the library policies and systems for the national unification must be based on the concept of the mutual cooperation as inter-dependent model rather than on the concept of the incorporation-absorption as a dominant model. The next point the principles of the followings in preparing the library policies should be considered: 1) free-competition, 2) revolution of consciousness through the social education, 3) independence and love for humanity, 4) scientific or reasonable thinking, 5) job responsibility, 6) democratic citizenship, 7) mind far collective life, 8) spirit of public interest 9) globalization In addition, the model of the library systems preparing for thenational unification should include the followings : 1) uniformity of library system and its authority, 2) establishment of research institutes for library policy and system, 3) exchange of library establishment and information resources, 4) building library networks, 5) establishment of education systems for the library and information science and enhancement of its quality, 6) modernizing and developing information technology and its transfer. Finally, the libraries in the north and the south has different concepts, goals, information resources, and the different ways of using them. Considering the practical aspects of the libraries and the reasons for their existence, they must structure the mutual cooperative system so as to minimize the shock when confronting the social changes, so-called the national unification.

• (The)Study of the Eastern Classic
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• no.37
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• pp.377-410
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• 2009

In the East Asian Confucianism society, Hakmun was aimed to bring human beings and nature into harmony, and to explore a unity between knowledge and conducts. For example, Neo-Confucianism aspired they could explain the human existence and society through a single concept of Iki(理氣, the basic principles and the atmospheric force of nature). In this philosophy, humanics and natural sciences had not been differentiated at all. The East-West cultural interchanges at the beginning of modernity caused a crack in the traditional academic concepts. Through the Hundred Days of Reform(變法自疆運動, a movement of Strenuous Efforts through Reforming the Law), the Western Affairs Movement(洋務運動) in China, Meiji Restoration(明治維新) in Japan, or Innovation Movements(開化運動) and the Patriotic Enlightenment Movement(愛國啓蒙運動) in Korea, the traditional meanings of Hakmun was degraded while it became a target of the criticism of the enlightenment movements. Accordingly, East Asians' perception of Hakmun rapidly began to change. Although there had been the Silhak(實學, practical science) movement in Korea, which tried to differentiate its conceptualization of Hakmun from that of Neo-Confucianism during the 18th and 19th century, the fundamental shift in meaning occurred with the influx of the modern Western culture. This change converted the ultimate objective of Hakmun as well as its methods and substances. The separation of humanics and natural sciences, rise in dignity of the technological sciences, and subdivision of learning into disciplines and their specialization were accelerated during the Korean enlightenment period. The inflow of the modern western science, humanized thought, and empiricism functioned as mediators in these phase and they caused an irreversible crack in the traditional academic thoughts. Confronting the western mode of knowledge, however, the East Asian intellectuals had to explain their new learning by using traditional terms and concepts; modification was unavoidable when they tried to explain the newly imported knowledge and concepts. This presentation focuses on the traditional concepts of 'gyeogchi'(格致, extending knowledge by investigating things) and 'gungni'(窮理, investigation of principles), pervasively used in philosophy, physics and many other fields of study. These concepts will mark the key point with which to trace changes of knowledge and to understand the way how the concept of Hakmun was converted into a modern one.