• Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences
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• v.28
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• pp.207-241
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• 2017

In the scripture of Daesoon Jinrihoe, the expression 'Dosu (度數)' is frequently used and Jeungsan, Jeongsan, and Wudang also left behind many teachings related to Dosu. In this paper, the concept of Dosu is analyzed in detail and the achievement of an in-depth understanding of the concept of Dosu is attempted. The term Dosu is often used in traditional literature. In the classics, Dosu was used to mean institutions, standards, rules, law, figures, and the laws of heavenly bodies. In other words, Dosu is used to mean the laws of astronomy and the norms of human society. This meaning is expanded and used as the principle of the universe and nature. This concept of Dosu is related to the mathematical cosmological understanding of numbers as the principle of the universe. This type of mathematical cosmology was systematized by Shao Yong (邵雍). In the Joseon Dynasty, Seo Gyungduk (徐敬德) accepted it positively, and it thereby became an influential trend in Korean thought. In the world view of Daesoon thought, there exists the view that numbers as a principle of the universe, and of course this world view is connected to mathematical cosmology. In Daesoon thought, the concept of Dosu is based on the concept of traditional Dosu and adds an additional meaning which connects it to the Reordering of the Universe (Cheonjigongsa). Also, Dosu is used to mean the process of changing the principles and laws of cosmos through Jeungsan's Reordering of the Universe. It is especially the case that discourse about Dosu is widely used when describing the Reordering of the Universe. Jeungsan corrected, reorganized, and adjusted Dosu, as well as establishing new Dosu. Jeongsan, who succeeded Jeungsan, followed the Reordering of the Universe by Jeungsan, and also realized Dosu. In other words, Jeongsan acted and practiced according to the Dosu that had been enacted by Jeungsan. Also, Dosu means the process of the transformation of principle according to the Reordering of the Universe, and Wudang used the concept of Dosu to describe the historical process of Daesoon Jinrihoe. This means that the foundation of Mugeukdo, the change to Taegukdo, the establishment of Daesoon Jinrihoe, and the contruction of Yeoju headquarters are episodes in a divine history carried out through Dosu. Through this discourse, Daesoon Jinrihoe asserts a legitimacy that distinguishes itself from other sects, and believers can be inspired by the sacred meaning that they are participating in the Dosu of heaven and earth. This empowers their devotion and sincerity.

• Cross-Cultural Studies
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• v.29
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• pp.113-131
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• 2012

In our days, we live in the world of image and imagination. Now we think that the images and imaginations are no more selective but indispensable elements in our life. The status of imagination is dramatically changed since 20 century. Many philosophers like G. Bachelard, G. Durand, Paul Ricoeur, H. Corbin, G. Deleuze made great contributions and we think that the studies of imagination began since 20 century. But the change of the status of imagination was not made in one day. In the long history of human life, the imagination kept his own value, and never stopped to give his influence to the human mentalities. The concept of imagination was born from the Plato's notion of phantasia. Plato thinks that the phantasia is a kind of drawing capacity in mind in the process of recognition. But the image which phantasia makes is not real one but pseudo one. So it is necessary to banish those false images from our recognition. Aristotle thought phantasia as an afterimage of object of sense. The sense is always true, but the phantasia is very possible to be an error. After Plato and Aristotle, the notion of phantasia developed into that of imagination, but it was always a problem full of contradictions. According to G. Durand, we can say, in some sense, the history of western philosophy is a kind of struggle against the image and imagination. In Middle Age, the iconoclasm tried to exclude image from their religion. Thomas Aquinas tried to explain the image by the rationalistic christianisme. In 16-17C Galilei and Descartes solidified the exclusion of imagination from the philosophy in the name of science and reason. The empiricism and positivism was the final and the most conclusive philosophies which exclude the imagination definitively from the field of philosophy. But the imagination continued his influence in the field of art. In the age of Renaissance, the imagination found his way of liberal expression, and this trend was inherited to Baroque. From the middle of 17c many philosophical theories supported the imagination by many philosophers like J.-B. Dubos, Baumgarten, A. Becq, J.-J. Rousseau etc. The Romanticism was the first significant wave which made the imagination come forward in front the art. The romanticism broke the narrow frame of rationalism and expand human's view of the world to the cosmos. From the romanticism, the imagination became a faculty which expresses the unity of human and nature. That was impossible by the rational thinking of rationalism. The concept of new imagination made a new future of human, 'the imagining conscious' and this imagining conscious provided a solid base of next generation's symbolism and surrealism.