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A Study of Taegyoshingi in Relation to the Nature vs. Nurture Debate - Comparing Traditional Taegyo Theory and Modern Genetics -

Lee, Kyungha 1

1서울대 인문학연구원

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ABSTRACT

Taegyoshingi, a hanja text written by the female author Sajugang Lee(1738~1821), is a theoretical treatise and manual that deals with ‘taegyo’,a set of traditional beliefs and regulations regarding prenatal development. The title can be read as ‘a new record (shingi) on taegyo’. Previous studieshave approached this text from a medical perspective or have tendedto focus on its underlying Confucian beliefs. However, the aim of this paperis to examine the ideas pertaining to biology and genetics that can befound in Taegyoshingi. Through such an approach, it is demonstrated thatforming the core of taegyo theory is the notion that the ‘tae’ (fetus) is aphysical entity which has its own nature, and that the surrounding environmentand the act of nurturing can bring about its transformation. Sajugang Lee’s discussion on the importance of nurturing the fetus (inother words, the surrounding environment) was based on the assumptionthat ‘the fetus is subject to change’. The nature-nurture debate which has taken place during the past century has now evolved to the stage that thecentral discussion is no longer on whether it is the environment or geneticfactors that determine an individual’s characteristics; now the discussiontends to focus on the issue of how the two factors are interrelated, as wellas the flexibility/unmalleability of human nature. In other words, it involvesa renegotiation of the relationship between nature and nurture, anew perspective that can also be observed in Taegyoshingi.

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* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.

This paper was written with support from the National Research Foundation of Korea.
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