조선 중기 ‘격치’ 개념의 의미론: 『조선왕조실록』의 용례를 중심으로

Abstract

The concept of ‘Gyeokchi’ was interpreted and appropriated diversly across different schools and factions in the mid-Chosôn dynasty. The meaning scope of the word ‘Gyeokchi’ was expanded when the word was used in diverse schools among the mind (心學), the learning principles (理學) and Silhak (實學). For Chosôn Confucian scholars, 'Gyeokchi' was an important concept that embodied the political principles of Confucianism. This was because 'Gyeokchi' was a concept that realized the principle of Confucian politics, which considered moral values ​​to be more important in politics by expanding the main point of view of Confucianism. The performance and semantics of the concept ‘Gyeokchi’ appreciated across diverse schools and factions could be summarized as follows. First, Geukmulchiji’ was the first stage of disciplines of kingship (帝王學). According to the concept, the rule of the monarch's heart was the very key to politics. Thus, acquiring true knowledge and correcting the mind of the ruler was considered as to be the beginning of politics. Second, learning reverence to make one's will sincere and to rectify the mind was emphasized as the beginning and end of the study of sanctification. As the high value of The Great Learning was linked with the study that was cultivated from the heart and practicing the respect suggested in The Primary Learning and The Doctrine of the Mean, a chain link between science and psychology was created. Third, the idea that proper politics could be achieved by becoming a righteous man maintained in politics of the Chosôn Dynasty. Thus, correcting monarch’s mind was highly emphasized and the concept ‘gyeokchi’ became the standard to determine the value among rhetoric, ethics, classical studies and history. As a reference to the concept of ‘gyeokchi’, the righteousness and administration theory was established while discussing between the rule of ritual and the rule of law. Fourth, different schools of academy such as the principle learning, the mind learning and silhak intersected and were linked together within the semantic network of the concept of ‘gyeokchi’. Accodrding to the controversies on ‘Gyeokchi’, neo-confucianism in the mid-Chosôn Dynasty included the characteristics of academic aspect such as the mind (心學), the learning principles (理學) and Silhak (實學) altogether, and the Clues to the psychologicalization of Neo-Confucianism that occurred in the late Chosôn Dynasty could also be found here.