천명(天命)에 대한 조선유학의 주목과 퇴계(退溪)해석의 철학사적 의의

Abstract

One of the main academic issues in the 16th century Chosun is Heavenly Mandate. They explained the good nature of the human being related to Heavenly Mandate. This is of course a very traditional Confucian idea, but the elaboration of this thought is made by Chosun Confucianism. Toegye participates in that discussion dominantly. He modifies the existing The Diagram of Heavenly Mandate and emphasizes the concept of Li based on Heavenly Mandate through it. In the 16th century Chosun academia where Zhuxi’s philosophy was being adopted at a full scale, such an attempt by Toegye can be evaluated as an effort to differentiate from the understandings of the past and contemporary scholars. This analysis is confirmed by the fact that he had noted the differences between The Diagram of Supreme Ultimate and The Diagram of Heavenly Mandate. Specifically, he explained Li as Heavenly Mandate with the condition that Li and Gi are wondrously united and consolidated. In that way, while he found the basis of morality from the Heavenly Mandate which is a kind of moral imperative, he definitely claimed that the Heavenly Mandate is Li only when it is combined with Gi. In other words, When combined with Gi, Li exerts the power to intervene with the world just like a kind of moral command. This means that rather than explaining morality of humans through the Supreme Ultimate, it is necessary to find the basis of human morality through the Heavenly Mandate. The division regarding these two concepts is distinguished from the interpretation of the scholars in the past. Through this differentiation, I can say that Toegye reconstructed the theory on morality systematically.