• (The)Study of the Eastern Classic
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• no.37
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• pp.345-375
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• 2009

In relation to body conception, the introduction of western medicine to Joseon Korea started off some points in disputes: the one was whether the western anatomy was positive or not, the other was whether the cognition was ruled by heart or brain. In the long run of these disputes, that who had clarified the change of body conception was Choi Han Kee. His new conception of body was characterized as follow: on the one hand, it emphasized the mechanical conception of body; on the other hand, it emphasized the cognitive ability of body. But that his conception of body had obscure points: that is, its mechanical conception was intervened by chi(神氣), and his doctrine of cognition searched for the origin of cognition in balance of chi of the body. He had set up this conception of body by the combination of western medicine and chi, but the combination did not seem to be perfect. This point had appeared again in his conception of physics that he thought the basis of medicine. He had pursed the combination of chemical element and chi, but it could not be accomplished successfully unless he had abandoned the organicist conception of chi. In conclusion, his new conception of body was not free from the suspicion of a incomplete tentative construction.