1. Ren vs. Agape: A Comparison of Confucian and Catholic Concepts of Community through the Eyes of Songho Yi Ik
On the surface, "benevolence" (ren 仁) in Confucianism and agape in Christianity both seem to convey the simple message that one love othe ...
1. Ren vs. Agape: A Comparison of Confucian and Catholic Concepts of Community through the Eyes of Songho Yi Ik
On the surface, "benevolence" (ren 仁) in Confucianism and agape in Christianity both seem to convey the simple message that one love others for all to achieve "oneness" with each other. Indeed, since the introduction of Catholicism to East Asia in the fifteenth century, many Catholic missionaries attempted to synthesize the two concepts to portray an impression to the Chinese that Catholicism and Confucianism are compatible. Their efforts, however, met with mixed levels of success, and attempts for synthesis continue to this day. This paper will address the challenges of such synthesis through a study of the ideal community in the writings of a Confucian scholar during the late Choson dynasty, Songho Yi Ik.
2. A study on Chongng YagYong’s Insimdosim (人心道心; human mind and mind of Way) Theory through compared with Thomism
The present study examined the characteristics of Chong Yag Yong’s Insimdosim Theory by comparing it with Thomism. First, I analyzed ‘Simsinmyohap (心身妙合 mysterious mind-body union),’ which is the most fundamental base of this article. It was discussed that ‘Simsinmyohap’ inherited not only the character of Thomistic hylomorphism based on the soul and the body but also the concept of the mind and the body used in discussing Confucian Insimdosim by the Seongho School.
Second, I closely examined what logic of Thomism and how deeply it was introduced in Chong YagYong’s Seonggiho (性嗜好; human nature as inclination) Theory or Jajujigwon (自主之權; free choice of the will).
Third, we discussed that there are factors other than Thomism in the whole structure of Chong YagYong’s Insimdosim although the influence of Thomism was exerted on the theory. That is, Chong YagYong emphasized will stronger than intellect compared to Thomism. Thus, it inherited the dualistic tradition of the Toegye School. In addition, this study clarified that, while Thomism did not separate nature from norms, Chong YagYong’s Insimdosim accepted the logic of the Wang Yangming School and took the attitude of separating nature from norms.
3. The Characteristics of Hyegang Choi HanGi’s Epistemology Viewed through Comparison with Thomism
The objective of the present study is to identify the characteristics of Choi Han-Gi’s epistemology by comparing it with Catholic missionaries’ epistemology and finding what he accepted and what he criticized. For this purpose, we first analyzed soul introduced from a religious viewpoint and pneuma introduced from a medical viewpoint, and then examined the issue of the subject of cognition through comparison with Choi Han-Gi’s shinki.(神氣) Second, I examined the way of how cognition starts. Missionaries maintained that cognition starts from sensation through the organs in the body like eye, ear, nose, mouth and skin, and compared the state before sensation to tabula rasa. Choi Han-Gi also viewed that cognition starts when a sensory organ called ‘Jegyu(諸竅)’ contacts external objects and compared the state before cognition to tabula rasa. That is, they were similar in that both maintained empiricism that the objects of cognition exist outside objectively and they are recognized through experience. Third, we examined the question of how sensation admitted to the subject of cognition is conceptualized. Thomism views that the conceptualization constitutes the intelligence part of nonmaterialistic soul, and Choi Hang-Gi viewed that conceptualization is possible because of presumption, with is the use of spirit. However, missionaries maintained that the existence of God can be recognized by inference because intelligence is nonmaterial and soul, which is the object of God’s judgment, is eternal. However, Choi HanGi criticized the logical of Catholic religion by regarding spirit as the subject of cognition.