• The Journal of Korean Philosophical History
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• no.32
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• pp.43-78
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• 2011

The two schools which eventually came to form the "Northerners party" in the middle period of the Joseon dynasty, were Nam'myeong school and Hwadam school. Nam'myeong's philosophy, which emphasized the importance and merit of acting upon respect and righteousness(敬義), encouraged many people to organize righteous militias during the war with the Japanese in the 1590s, and when Jeong In-hong established himself as the leader of the Northerners party during the reign of King Gwang'hae-gun, the philosophy of the party and the school continued to thrive. Also, Hwadam's philosophy, which tried to understand Neo-Confucianism from a flexible point of view and demonstrated a level of openness toward it, had a considerable influence upon the Northerners school as well. It seems Nam'myeong Jo Shik and Hwadam Seo Gyeong-deok were the ones who ultimately enabled the Northerners party to be more active in their operations of the government and also to approach more freely toward the ideology of Neo-Confucianism. Prime examples of the party's stance and attitude, and also of the school's philosophy and perception of the world, were figures like Jeong In-hong and Heo Gyun from the 'Majority Northerners(大北) party,' and Kim Shin-guk and Nam I-gong from the 'Minority Northerners(小北) party.'Since the time of King Injo's ascension to the throne in 1623, the philosophical society of Joseon came to be occupied by schools who were deeply committed and dedicated to the teachings of Ju Hi and his Neo-Confucianism, such as the Twe'gye and Yulgok schools, and as a result the Northerners' philosophy was pushed away from its former formidable status. Their political philosophy was also partially responsible for their fall, as they believed only them were the ideal Confucian figures(君子黨), and never appreciated the stances of other political factions. In the middle of the 17th century, passing through a war with the Manchurian Qing dynasty as well, they further became a mere undercurrent. Yet their thinking and philosophy partially survived, as it managed to affect and influence the Southerner school scholars who were living in the vicinity of the capital in the mid and late 17th century, as well as the "Shilhak" scholars such as Yi Ik/李瀷 in the 18th century, on a certain level. The Northerners faction was a party and a school which led the political and philosophical societies of Joseon, alongside the Westerners and Southerners, in the middle period of the Joseon dynasty. Recently, studies of Jo Shik and Seo Gyeong-deok, figures who were the roots of the Northerners faction, and studies of how the Northerners' political philosophy was inherited to the following generations, have been published and announced. All these efforts will enrich future studies dealing with the political history and philosophical history of the middle and latter periods of the Joseon dynasty.

• The Journal of Korean Philosophical History
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• no.25
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• pp.251-292
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• 2009

In this thesis, the status of Pre-Chin Study of One Hundred Schools in the history of Korean thoughts, and in addition, the reception of $Hs{\ddot{u}}n$ Tzu's ideology and the aspect of its development in Korea were examined. Moreover, the different understandings of $Hs{\ddot{u}}n$ Tzu and their trend of the times were summarized through the intellectuals' collection of works from the end of Goryeo Dynasty and the beginning of Cho Sun Dynasty to 18-19 century. What was revealed through the study can be summed up as the followings. From the age of Three States to the middle part of Goryeo Dynasty, few intellectuals regarded other schools or philosophers among Study of One Hundred Schools as heresies and blamed them. However, since Mencius had been established as the legitimate classical scripture of Confucianism after the end of Goryeo Dynasty and the beginning of Cho Sun Dynasty, other Pre-Chin philosophers including $Hs{\ddot{u}}n$ Tzu had started to be regarded and criticized as heresies. Intellectuals of Goryeo Dynasty and the early Cho Sun Dynasty made various estimates on $Hs{\ddot{u}}n$ Tzu's doctrine of the evilness of human nature, but we can see the understanding of $Hs{\ddot{u}}n$ Tzu became deeper. In the heyday of Neo-Confucianism in Cho Sun Dynasty, the intensity of the criticism on $Hs{\ddot{u}}n$ Tzu by intellectuals rather tended to decrease, compared to that of the early Cho Sun Dynasty, which produced contrary evidence that the world view of Sung Confucianism, based on Mencius' doctrine of the goodness of human nature, had been already established. Also, even the intellectuals criticizing the evilness of human nature positively quoted $Hs{\ddot{u}}n$ Tzu's other ideas in general. In 17th century, there were some arguments to conclude $Hs{\ddot{u}}n$ Tzu as Legalism, but the general trend came to accept Study of One Hundred Schools constructively, challenging the authority of Sung Confucianism, or based on positive school. In 18th century, it can be confirmed that the understanding on $Hs{\ddot{u}}n$ Tzu became broader, and particularly in the historical research of letters, $Hs{\ddot{u}}n$ Tzu's original texts and annotations were used in many ways. In short, the intellectuals' criticism on $Hs{\ddot{u}}n$ Tzu in Cho Sun Dynasty was always grounded on his argument of the evilness of human nature, and furthermore, on connecting it to Legalism, related to the Fenshukengru. On the other hand, it can be said that they generally accepted other ideas of $Hs{\ddot{u}}n$ Tzu positively, except for the idea of the evilness of human nature. However, it's worth paying attention to the fact that those intellectuals who criticized $Hs{\ddot{u}}n$ Tzu could easily meet with the books of Study of One Hundred Schools, and relatively had an open attitude in terms of knowledge.

• (The)Study of the Eastern Classic
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• no.69
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• pp.593-622
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to investigate the characteristics of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism and to examine the characteristics of Intermixture of Three Religions in Journey to the West. This novel, which has the structure of satire, hope, and surrogate satisfaction while being the center of satire and humor, is a refuge for the people. Even today, it can be said, however, that for the people, Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism was not a distinctly separate system of religions. Journey to the West story is about the liberation of Buddhism that is obtained through Taoism training. In the celestial world, not all gods are perfect, and often make mistakes. In such a story, the mistakes of beings living as human beings are simply insignificant. What is not different from the structure of life in this world is still a world of nature. The world is rife with absurdities, both on earth and in heaven. The characteristics of Intermixture of Three Religions can be summarized in several ways. First, the Trip of Samjang is not just to gain the enlightenment of illegal but rather to seek a greater sense of meaning. Second, the means to gain enlightenment is that it does not claim that one is right or good. Third, mercy, goodwill, and respect for life for oppressed and exploited peoples are common to all religions. Fourth, this story suggests that everything from the beginning is already a matter of mind. Fifth, all of the logic of Three Religions in this novel can be said to be "preliminary." Human life implies that it is going on a planned path, perhaps as a fate. But the important thing is, as in all religions, even if the road is a planned one, Journey to the West is strongly and persuasively speaking that it is the way of life as well as the attitude of living silently in carrying out its duties.

• (The)Study of the Eastern Classic
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• no.67
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• pp.345-378
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• 2017

In the scriptures of "$Ch{\bar{u}}n-qi{\bar{u}}$(春秋)", the expression method of '$Ch{\bar{u}}n-w{\acute{a}}ng-zh{\bar{e}}ng-yu{\grave{e}}$(春王正月 : It's spring. It's the first month regulated by the king.)' was used as Jì-yuè-fǎ(紀月法 : the rules to determine the first month(正月)), the month of winter solstice was regarded as the first month of a year, and three years since then were named as $Ch{\bar{u}}n$(春 : spring). With regard to this "$Ch{\bar{u}}n-qi{\bar{u}}$"Wáng-lì("春秋"王曆 : the calendar regulated by the king of $Zh{\bar{o}}u$(周) dynasty in "$Ch{\bar{u}}n-qi{\bar{u}}$"), depending on whether Confucius(孔子) changed and recorded the names of the months and the season or not, there were three different arguments; the theory that 'Confucius changed the names of both the months and the season'(孔子改月 改時說), the view that 'Confucius changed the name of the season, not the names of the months'(孔子不改月 改時說), and then the theory that 'Confucius changed neither the names of the months nor the name of the season'(孔子不改月 不改時) since Song(宋) dynasty. The first view was taken by $Hh{\acute{u}}-{\bar{a}}n-gu{\acute{o}}$(胡安國) and $C{\grave{a}}i-ch{\acute{e}}n$(蔡沈), and the second theory was mentioned by Chéng-yí(程?) and Zhū-zǐ(朱子). The advocates of the third view had become remarkable since Ming(明) dynasty, and one of representatives was Wàng-yáng-míng(王陽明). All of them based their arguments on ancient scriptures and Confucian legal books, and there were cases of taking the same records as the support for different opinions. Confucius' so-called 'Chūn-qiū-bǐ-fǎ(春秋筆法 : the method to describe historical facts by making clear discrimination between right and wrong)' and '$Sh{\grave{u}}-{\acute{e}}r-b{\grave{u}}-zu{\grave{o}}$(述而不作 : the attitude to succeed virtuous men's achievements and only explain and describe them not creating and adding new contents)' could come from thoughts of $Z{\bar{u}}n-w{\acute{a}}ng$(尊王 : to respect the king with the virtues of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and sincerity). Therefore, even though Confucius is assumed to have been the writer of "$Ch{\bar{u}}n-qi{\bar{u}}$(春秋)", whether he actually changed and recorded the names of the months and the season in the calendar used in "$Ch{\bar{u}}n-qi{\bar{u}}$" is doubtful. These theories on Confucius's intervention in the calendar of "$Ch{\bar{u}}n-qi{\bar{u}}$" hadn't been discussed as conflicting in reality until Tang(唐) dynasty.

• (The)Study of the Eastern Classic
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• no.55
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• pp.223-264
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• 2014

Yeoncheon Hong Seok-joo(淵泉 洪奭周: 1774-1842) faithfully followed a policy of restoration of literary style of king Jeongjo. He was an young vassal after 1794 and influenced by Jeongjo because Yeoncheon was around the king. Furthermore, he had comparatively favorable working period as a vassal(仕宦期, 1795-1836) after death of Jeongjo(1800) while establishing his own academic viewpoint. Therefore, a study about art theory of Yeoncheon Hong Seok-joo is one about logical system to accept various desires for change of then while not getting rid of scope of Neo-Confucianism after Jeongjo. It is catched that exchange of Hong Seok-joo and Jeong Yak-yong was made relating to study of Sangseo. Hong Seok-joo and Jeong Yak-yong absorbed in study of Sangseo, which is come from putting importance on 6 scriptures (經) among studies of scriptures by both of them. Through this, they aimed to re-discover ideology of original Confucian studies as one for cultivating oneself and governing people (修己治人之學). Dasan and Yeoncheon have something in common that they were young vassals who were cultivated as a guarding power for Jeongjo centered on Gyujanggak. They were largely fit to view of literature(文體觀) of Jeongjo. Hong Seok-joo distinguished function of prose(文) and poetry(詩) into teaching moral(明敎) and moving people(感人) in the category of Mun-yi-jae-do(文以載道) based on thoughts of 'literature is linguistic device for Taoism '(道本文末)' which is a core concept of literature theory based on Neo-Confucianism. He gave a careful attention on instructional and social function in prose while on emotional understanding that puts importance on temper and the secrets of nature in poetry. Hong Seok-joo regarded moral impression and edification through this as a core of artistic creation based on Segyoseol(世敎說). Furthermore, expressions such as 'Heunggwangunwon(興觀群怨)' or 'Yeohangguyo(閭巷謳謠) which are mentioned as important elements in his artistic works put importance on actual existence of objective things in artistic activity and this is connected to an attitude to require description fit to fact. So, it is assumed that such expression style aimed for features of genre painting in painting arts. Understanding of the study of ancient documents by Yeoncheon developed from critical perspective. He criticized the study of ancient documents, saying it as first, Pasoijisul(破碎之術), second, Dotaekjisul(塗澤之術), third, Hoimojisul(毁侮之術). Jeong Yak-yong criticized ' theory on the Odes' from viewpoint of theory of Mun-yi-jae-do(文以載道) based on Neo-Confucianism. He stressed political and social function of Sipeon and general poetry in "the Odes" and reinterprets discourses about poetry of Zhu Xi based on his own opinion. He says that poems of national fashion do political and social criticism. The theory of national fashion by Jeong Yak-yong clearly discloses his thoughts that stress practical role of noblemen in the social and political context.

• (The)Study of the Eastern Classic
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• no.48
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• pp.195-223
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• 2012

Until now, I guess, many scholars misunderstood the characteristic of economic awareness of Yi Hang-no as if it was a modern nationalism or radicalism against Japanese anti-Korean insistences. But I think these opinions are out of historical attitude. So to understand Yi's economic awareness correctly, I think, We should focus on the traditional Confucian thought system at that time. As one method to reach the goal, I focused on the word, Jeong-jeon-je: Oriental equal land system. Yi Hang-no put the importance on Jeong-jeon-je to make utopia he dreamed of. Yi thought Jeong-jeon-je is the basis of equal society and strong state. Also Yi thought a moral society would be achieved by Jeong-jeon-je because the equal land system, so called Jeong-jeon-je provide peasants with equal lands, so it makes peasants stable in economic situation. Especially, Yi Hang-no put importance on that Jeong-jeon-je would raise moral consciousness of people because equal economic condition makes people wealthy, so people would be good men naturally. Yi Hang-no explain it in basis of Insim-Dosim-seol: a theory of two minds bad & good to be. Yi Hang-no thought equal economic condition is the basis of making people moral being. He thought Jeong-jeon-je was a basis of the condition. Reversely, Yi thought Western insists of trade was the beginning of making people fight for individual benefit, so it produces devil selfishness out of human mind. That was the reason that Yi Hang-no opposed the trade with Western Powers. Eventually Yi's assertion of embargo came out of his Insim-Dosim-seol. In this context, Yi's Jeong-jeon-je was insisted as a method to raise human moral consciousness.

• (The)Study of the Eastern Classic
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• no.62
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• pp.37-65
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• 2016

This paper is to explain who are the authors of first-half 18th Century private prose YeonHangRok(燕行錄) written in Chinese Character and what are interest-oriented aspects of that books. As objects of study, 3 private prose YeonHangRok(燕行錄) written by No-Ron Jeon -Ju Lee's Family(老論 全州李氏) were chosen. Result of reading articles in their anthology, I found their consciousness about going to Beijing. : They aware of "The importance of YeonHang(燕行)" and when they run a mission, they take an attitude of 'observation and attention' to their experience. With that consciousness of YeonHang(燕行) in common, So-jae(疎齋), Il-am (一菴) and Hanpojae(寒圃齋) wrote their YeonHangRok(燕行錄) that mainly describe their direct experience. So-jae(疎齋) and Hanpojae(寒圃齋)'s categories of descriptions are specialized in 'Public Affairs' and 'mission', Il-am(一菴) has widened to the everyday cultures and people of Other cultures.

• (The)Study of the Eastern Classic
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• no.49
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• pp.225-260
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• 2012

The poetry of Haseo Jo Gyeong is first characterized by its fantasy content with mysterious and strange beings such as mountain wizards, gods of flowers, ghosts, Jujos and dragons. Such works imply the huge gap between his political ideal of Neo-Confucianism and the reality of society and are expressions of his resulting sorrow. Of course, he did not just look at reality pessimistically. Like other Neo-Confucianism scholars, he used the symbol of "spring" in his poems, which indicates that he did have optimistic belief in the world in spite of despair. In his poems, the symbol of "spring" implies the political world where the noble man grabbed the power and the sinister groups were extracted or the world where the political ethics of Neo-Confucianism was implemented. His works depicting the essence of natural objects, mountains, and rivers exhibit the characteristics of his poetry more clearly. He described the law of the universe behind natural objects and the vibrant aspects of natural objects by depicting their movements in a clear and sharp manner. Unlike the old Neo-Confucianism scholars that often created poems on the topic of acquirement of natural law and nature, he expanded his poetic world in a direction of revealing the secrets of objects. His works describing the spirit of mountains and rivers are especially noteworthy in that they implied a life attitude of moving forward in an deteriorating world bravely by manifesting strong and dynamic power. Paying attention to the secrets of natural objects, Haseo displayed his life ideal in richer ways by painting the new forms of ume flowers. Unlike the old ume flowers poems in the past, his ume flowers poems present ume flowers as ascetics that obtained truth, men of virtue that inspired contemporary people, or retired gentlemen that revealed the profound secrets of nature. While it is unique that he manifested the forms of ume flowers in ascetics and men of virtue while perceiving the dark reality of society, it is more noteworthy that he described ume flowers as the beings revealing the profound secrets of nature. It was the expression of his yearning for an innocent personality and his fear for losing the personality, clearly depicting a human form of his ego. He created a more human and realistic personality ideal by embracing the contemporary thinking based on the profound secrets of nature in his Dohak poetry[道學詩], which is a significant achievement in that it showed new changes to Dohak poetry in the 18th century.

• (The)Study of the Eastern Classic
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• no.34
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• pp.257-286
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• 2009

Yi, Hang-no said that taiji(=li) was Myeong-deok(illustrious virtue), the core of mind and heart, emphasizing the sides of superintendent and mysterious ability of li. It seems that he aimed to stress the upper status of li than qi, out of earlier general theory on mind and heart recognizing both li and qi consisted in the mind and heart. Through it, he wanted to say that only human being had moral mind like taiji and upper moral status than animals which human being should keep. The reason that Yi, Hang-no emphasized the difference between li and qi was because of a critical mind that the upper value of li than qi should not be changed and it would be the most dangerous situation if the value collapsed. Like this, Yi, Hang-no's attitude emphasizing li in his theory of mind and heart eventually aimed to explain the theory of Insim(Desire to be) and Dosim(Moral Mind). Yi, Hang-no's disciples testified that their teacher, Yi, Hang-no had cost his whole life to study the theory of Insim and Dosim. This means that Yi, Hang-no had tried to discriminate between Insim and Dosim, and to block private desires in Insim. The fact that Yi, Hang-no stressed the importance of the theory of Insim and Dosim had to do with the special situation that Western Power approached Joseon dynasty. Because Yi, Hang-no opposed the Westerner's moral consciousness for individual desires, against heavenly orders. To overcome the Western challenge, Yi, Hang-no strived to notice that taiji was the core of human mind. The point that Yi, Hang-no wanted to say was that Dosim(Moral Mind) was just the heavenly orders which human being couldn't disobey. Yi, Hang-no thought that Joseon couldn't defence Western flow without this theory of Insim and Dosim. Just after French invasion(1866), Yi, Hang-no was selected as a high-leveled bureaucrat, so he insisted his opinions for rejecting heterodoxy by the letters to the throne several times. The letters also contained his theory of Insim and Dosim mainly. Insisting fight against Western Power and prohibition of trade with Western Power, Yi, Hang-no eventually emphasized the king's right mind(Dosim) as a main and sole means to achieve all the goals he said. In conclusion, Yi, Hang-no's theory on mind and heart was as it is reflected in his letters to the throne. Therefore we can see that Yi, Hang-no's theory on mind and heart had harmonized with his movement to "Rejecting Heterodoxy".

• (The)Study of the Eastern Classic
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• no.35
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• pp.35-73
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• 2009

This thesis aims at making clear correlation between the controversy that the nature of people and things is equal or different each other and Sung Confucianism, which is closed and discriminative. For this aim, I am looking closely at philosophy-reason prose that deals with the nature of people and things, from the early days of Chosun when Sung Confucianism became a new trend of thought to the later days when the controversy that the nature of people and things is equal or different had begun in earnest. This philosophy-reason prose has had gradual and important change. There are four different view points toward the nature of people and things. According to the first view point, people are the nucleus of the world. For the second one, things are thought to be important enough to be valued, but people are still the only core of the world. The third view point is that people and things are equally important and they are all the core of the world. Finally, the fourth view point regards people inferior to things and it says that things need to instruct people by scolding their bad behavior. There is a correlation between the view point of the nature of people and things and the attitude of an author. If some scholars think that people are the most important nucleus of the world, they tend to consider Sung Confucianism as the only school. On the contrary, other scholars who think that people and things are equal tend to respect other schools with open mind. In conclusion, the heated debates of the 18th century was an acute pain to destroy the closed and discriminative character of Sung Confucianism. It has contributed to innovate the thought toward the nature of people and things and the reformism of practical science have also done important role in the process of modernism's being groped by itself.