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A Study of Maesan Hong Jik-pil’s theory of Heart-Mind - focusing on Simchebonsunseoul(心體本善說) and Myeongdukseoul(明德說)

Sang-Who Shin 1

1성신여자대학교 고전연구소

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ABSTRACT

Maesan Hong Jik-pil(梅山 洪直弼, 1776～1852) is a leading scholar of the Nangnon(洛論) academic community in the early nineteenth-century. He followed after the Nangnon school scholars, such as Kim Chang-hyeob(農巖 金昌協, 1651~1708), Kim Won-haeng(渼湖 金元行, 1702~1772) and Park Yun-won(近齋 朴胤源, 1734～1799), and had great influence on the times. Yet despite his clout and prestige in academic field, Hong Jik-pil’s Seongli-seol(性理說) has not been fully evaluated. It is because Hong Jik-pil tended to evade academic arguments. Also, there has been a lack of study on the early nineteenth-century’s Nangnon in the history of Joseon Confucianism. Therefore, it is required to fully appreciate his Seongli-seol in order to examine academic tendency of Nangnon in the early nineteenth-century and the History of Korean Confucianism from the eighteenth to nineteenth-centuries. This paper, as a groundwork on Hong Jik-pil’s Seongli-seol, analyzes his Heart-Mind theory(心說). The Nangnon school that Hong Jik-pil belonged venerated Lee Yi(栗谷 李珥, 1536-1584) and thus followed his core idea that ‘Every occurance has the same structure[氣發理乘一途]; Li(理) secures fundamental sameness of the substance and qi(氣) arises phenomenal differentiation.[理通氣局]’ Based on it, realization of the substance is depended on qi, responsible for specific action. In other words, the fulfillment of li is possible through pure and innate qi, according to the words of Zhu Xi(朱熹) Study. In Nagnon, innate qi is regarded as Heart-Mind(心), so Heart-Mind becomes the subject of fulfillment of the substance. As Hong Jik-pil accepted the idea, Heart-Mind theory became the core point of his Seongli-seol. According to Hong Jik-pil’s argument, Heart-Mind possesses the fundamental sameness, as much as Nature(性) has. Heart-Mind(心), as an individual being, is an independent entity, at the same time, is an universals that differs from differential disposition(氣質). The fundamental sameness and the universals of Heart-Mind are formalized as Simchebonsunseoul(心體本善說). The theory has been established by making a division between qi of disposition and qi of Heart-Mind. Moreover, in terms of Illuminating virtue(明德) from Great Learning(大學), he argued Myoungdukjuki(明德主氣) and Myoungdukmoobunsoo(明德無分數). It clarifies that ‘Illuminating virtue indicates Heart-Mind[明德主氣]; Heart-Mind possesses universality[明德無分數]’, also states fundamental sameness and universals of Heart-Mind. This paper attempts to analyse Hong Jik-pil’s Seongli-seol from the perspective of these two theories.

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