• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.529-552
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• 2013

This study examines how individual attitudes towards government and society are affected by political conservatism and liberalism. With survey data from 533 adults(M=249, F=284) who live in Seoul and surrounding areas, we examine the general attitudes towards society, expectation on general government and differences in attitudes towards the Roh Moo-hyun Gov't and the Lee Myung-bak Gov't between liberals and conservatives. Results show that liberals and conservatives vary by age and residence, whereas attitudes towards the general government and society are not. By contrast, liberals and conservatives are distinctly different evaluating governments with specific political tendency. Liberals are more positive to the Roh Moo-hyun Gov't than conservatives whereas the evaluation appears conversely on the Lee Myung-bak Gov't. These differences of attitudes are more distinctive when dividing liberals and conservatives by subjective judgement and political party preference than conceptual measurement of political ideology. These findings suggest that political conservatism and liberalism is the factor that has powerfully affected individual attitudes in the specific political context rather than a consistent ideological framework in Korean society.

• (The)Study of the Eastern Classic
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• no.68
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• pp.283-317
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• 2017

Issues over morality and profit usually address relations between moral principles and material gains. In the history of traditional Oriental philosophy, discussions about them were called "Yi-Li zhi bian." The ideas of Confucius and Mencius also contain various discussions about Yi-Li. Both Confucius and Mencius defined Yi as a value concept to represent "natural," "appropriate" or "just" and regarded Yi as an external moral principle on the one hand and an internal moral emotion on the other hand. They had, at the same time, differences, as well. While Confucius placed importance on the external and acquired nature of Yi as a goal of morality, Mencius argued for the internal and innate nature of Yi as the nature of morality partially while recognizing its externality overall. Such Yi is a general term for subjective moral emotions and objective moral principles. Li was a concept of fact to represent "gain," "profit" or "profit-making." Both of them were against private interest and emphasized public interest. As for their differences, Confucius was positive about Li to some degree by saying "One should think of Yi when making profit," whereas Mencius was almost negative about Li and perceived it to be for Yi by saying "One should give up even his own life for Yi." He meant Li's dependence on Yi and also Yi's absoluteness for Ri. Both of them found a mix of opposite features in Yi such as internality and externality, subjectivity and objectivity, specificity and generality, and uniqueness and universality and also in Li such as individuality and specialty and public and private interest. Those features have both disadvantages including theoretical irrationality and logical contradiction and advantages including ideological diversity and conceptual polysemy. If efforts are made to avoid their disadvantages and highlight their advantages, they will provide some elements to consult in the creation of new global ethics required today when East and West are becoming one. In the modern society, the Yi-Li issues can be divided into the issues of morality and economy, personal and social profit, and moral ideal and material gain. If these modern Yi-Li issues are combined with the traditional Yi-Li issues, two paths will emerge over the order of Yi-Li. Of the many perceptions of Yi-Li issues of Confucius and Mencius, the idea of "Yi First, Li Later" can be very useful for creating a new ethics theory to represent "humanism" that we all need today when everyone considers their own pursuit of profit and satisfaction of needs as the best values. Sound Yi-Li relations will be possible only through Yi's orientation toward externality based on internality and Li's pursuit of private interest on the premise of public interest according to the spirit of "Yi First, Li Later."

• Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences
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• v.36
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• pp.1-34
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• 2020

It has been suggested that Jeungsan's prophetic poem that starts with the verse "For about seven or eight years, there will be a castle in the ancient country [七八年間古國城] ⋯" originally comes from Prophecies of Jeong Gam (鄭鑑錄). Despite Jeungsan, himself, obviously having been critical of that text, this claim has become the basic grounds for discourse suggesting that Jeungsan was not only interested in Prophecies of Jeong Gam but also considerably influenced by the text. However, the claim itself was formulated due to misunderstandings of the Chinese poems that had been included in A Compilation of Secret Prophecies Hidden in the Family-clan of Seogye (西溪家臧訣). These poems pursue a different ideological orientation than the poem from Prophecies of Jeong Gam. Ultimately, the Chinese poem in the verse 84 the chapter titled, Prophetic Elucidations in The Canonical Scripture of Daesoon Jinrihoe cannot provide a basis for the claim that Jeungsan was strongly influenced by Prophecies of Jeong Gam. This claim that Prophecies of Jeong Gam made a deep impact on Jeungsan and Daesoon Thought was based on three other texts outside of those that appear within verse 84 of Prophetic Elucidations. The first supposedly-related line is: "Heaven opens at the period of the Rat (Ja 子), Earth opens at the period of the Ox (Chuk 丑), humankind starts at the period of the Tiger (Ihn 寅)." This line comes from from Shao Kangjie's Book of Supreme World Ordering Principles (皇極經世), and the line could be quoted idiomatically as an expression in the Joseon Dynasty. Accordingly, attempts to relate Daesoon Thought to Prophecies of Jeong Gam are a distortion that arise from the assumption that Jeungsan had a significant interest in Prophecies of Jeong Gam. The second related line is "At the foot of Mount Mother (母岳山), a golden icon of Buddha has the ability to speak [母岳山下 金佛能言]." That line is nearly identical to the verse "On the summit of Mount Mother, a golden icon of Buddha has the ability to speak [母岳山頭 金佛能言]." Yet, Jeungsan changed '頭 (du, the summit)' to '下 (ha, the foot or under)' and express his own unique religious prophecy. This allusion to the prophecies of Jeong Gam is actually a criticism designed to disprove the earlier prophecy. Third, is the verse, "The form of Buddhism, creation of daoism, and propriety of Confucianism [佛之形體仙之造化儒之凡節]," which is characteristically related to Daesoon Thought. This verse can only be found in the prophetic text, Prophecies of Chochang (蕉蒼訣), and it is provided a main source when alleging that Prophecies of Jeong Gam was an influence on Daesoon Thought. However, considering the context of Prophecies of Chochang and the year of its publication (it is assumed to be compiled after 1950s), this does not hold water as Jeungsan had already passed into Heaven several decades before that time. This disqualifies the verse from being a basis for asserting Prophecies of Jeong Gam as an influence on Daesoon Thought. Contrary to the original assertion, there is a considerable amount of evidence that Prophecies of Chochang absorbed aspects of Daesoon Thought, which were simply revised in a novel way. There is no truly compelling evidence underpinning the argument that Prophecies of Jeong Gam had a unilateral impact on Daesoon Thought. There seems to be a great deal of confusion and numerous misinterpretations on this matter. Therefore, the claim that Daesoon Thought, as developed by Jeungsan, was influenced by the discourse on dynastic revolution and feng shui contained in Prophecies of Jeong Gam should be re-examined at the level of its very premise.