이돈화의 우주관과 인간관이 지니는 동서철학 융합적 특징 및 생명철학적 의의 - 『신인철학』을 중심으로 -

Abstract

This study has as an objective to narrate the key contents of Lee Don-hwa’s (李敦化, 1884-unkown) views of the universe and human beings, to investigate the characteristics of integrated Eastern and Western philosophies, and to define their meanings in terms of philosophy of life, focusing on “New Human Philosophy (新人哲學).” In his discussion on the universe, Lee Don-hwa inherited the speculative tradition of Donghak (東學) in which “Hanul” was inherent and at the same time transcendental. Namely, he believed that Heaven itself was an existence surpassing time and space, but within that time and space, it moved dynamically. This view was based on the 19th-century Donghak at the nearest, but in a broader sense it inherited the speculative tradition of the Orient. Lee Don-hwa based his views on philosophy of life of the Orient, but at the same time selectively embraced Henri Bergson’s philosophy of life as well as Japans’ Realism, Spinoza’s concept of natura naturans, the evolution theory, etc. to make the content abundant. On the other hand, in his discussion on human beings, Lee Don-hwa proposed a new concept, “Ingangyeok (man's personality, 人間格)” by highlighting the meaning man can have as an universal existence. Ingangyeok is defined as an ideal personality of human beings as a universal existence, and through this concept, man evolves infinitely as the pivotal existence of the universe while stressing man is organically connected with other natural existences. The concept of Ingangyeok is basically based on Donghak’s doctrine of “Innaecheon (humans are Heaven, 人乃天)” and Confucian views on human beings, but Lee substantiated the content by absorbing several key ideologies from the evolution theory of the modern West and Bergson’s philosophy of life. The tendency of integrated Eastern and Western philosophies which Lee Don-hwa showed in his views on the universe and human beings is meaningful in that he adhered to balanced attitude in terms of critical inheritance or acceptance. Also, unlike the 19th-century Donghak, his philosophy actively absorbed achievements of Western learning on life and is significant in that he substantiated the ideology of Innaecheon. Only it is somewhat regrettable that it made an emphasis on the natural immanence of life and maintained weak respect for nature.