호락논쟁을 통한 낙론계 심론의 전개 -노주(老洲)ㆍ매산(梅山)에서 간재(艮齋)로의 전개를 중심으로-

Abstract

Jeon Wu (1841-1922, pen name Ganjae) is one of the most prominent scholars of the so-called Rak School of Confucianism. Especially, he is known as the successor of both Oh Huisang (pen name Roju) and Hong Jikpil (pen name Maesan). Notably, he openly proclaimed that “the debate over the Theory of Hreat-Mind belongs to the public realm. Thus, one should not refrain from exposing the errors of your predecessors, even if you belong to the same school,” and raised questions on Gim Changhyeop (pen name Nongmu, 1651-1708)’s theory on the so-called “Four Moral Sprouts and Seven Sentiments.” However, he never raised any objections on Oh Huisan or Hong Jikpil, indicating that he was a faithful successor of both Oh and Hong. However, some recent studies have argued that there is a significant difference between Jeon’s theory and what Oh and Hong had argued. The main evidence of this argument is the different interpretations on what the “heart-mind” and “original nature (Kr. bonseong, Ch. benxing 本性)” are. Oh, and Hong considered that the heart-mind, just like the “original nature,” is innately “good.” However, Jeon emphasized the difference between the “heart-mind” and the “original nature.” Although there might be some truth to this interpretation, accepting this interpretation implies that there are both continuity and divergence between Oh-Hong and Jeon, thus meaning that Jeon’s theory is contradictory. I argue that this interpretation is problematic. As an alternative, in this article, I demonstrate how Jeon succeeded some of Oh-Hong’s theories, and at the same time, advanced some of their ideas. Essentially, in order to argue that the “heart-mind” is innately good, Oh and Hong relied on the concepts of “Heart-Mind on Mibal (未發心),” i.e., the state of one’s heart-mind before it develops any emotions or thoughts. In contrast, Jeon relied on the theory that the original state of qi (氣質本體). Thus, all agreed that the heart-mind is innately good. In addition, Oh and Hong relied on the concept of the “illustrious virtue (明德),” to emphasize that the “heart-mind” and “original nature” exist in different dimensions. On the other hand, Jeon proposed a concept where the original nature becomes the teacher, and the heart-mind becomes the student. Thus, all agreed that the heart-mind belongs to the realm of the phenomena (形而下), while original nature belong to the realms of beyond phenomena (形而上).