성당 정혁신의 삶과 『大學』에 대한 이해 - 明德에 대한 이해를 중심으로 -

Abstract

This paper focuses on the life and thought of Seong-dang Jeong Hyeok Sin. Seong-dang did not enter the government, living all his life in the countryside; his knowledge and ideas were much influenced by the thought of Nam-dang Han Won Jin (1682~1751). Seeing quantitatively the works he handed down to the posterity, it can be said that the contents attracting most of his attention was the interpretation of Zhu Xi on the concept of ‘bright virtue’ from Da-Xue according to which “Bright virtue is something human receives from the Heaven” The idea for impressing the differences between human and other beings was completely dissolved in the intention of explaining the argument above based on ‘the Chi’. It did not mean the identity of human and other beings, but the focus on where the differences between those two originated. From this aspect, it can be seen that in the discussion about whether human nature and other beings’ nature were similar or different, Seong-dang’s standpoint was the latter. In his opinion, the nature of human and other beings was different, and the primary reason for that difference could be explored in the various kinds of the Chi(氣) which contained each nature. This was why he paid attention to the issue of ‘human’ from the argument of Zhu Xi according to which ‘the bright virtue is something human receives from the Heaven’. Furthermore, Zhu Xi regarded the ‘bright virtue’ as being endowed with many reasons and, thus, as the subject dealing with all things happened, and Seong-dang thought this was because that the Chi human received was the best among all other beings’ones.