『性理精義』와 西學

Abstract

The acceptance of Western learning (西學) in the early Qing dynasty was culminated under the reign of emperor Kangxi. Its acceptance, however, was in a way quite different in the sense of the policy (補儒論) during the late Ming dynasty in two aspects: first, Shixian li (時憲曆), the new official calendar of the Qing dynasty was relying on the Western method (西法); and second, in its acceptance the Manchu imperial family played more important role than the Chinese literati did. One of the most important characteristics of Western learning under the new dynasty was her success in separating Western Science from Christianity. Moreover, the paradigm of the acceptance was established on the base of Neo-Confucian discipline. Because Western learning was accepted as a branch of investigation of things (格物致知), it was logically natural that the extension of Western learning had to be limited to mathematical astronomy only. To combine all the Western astronomical knowledge with Neo-Confucianism, however, could not be possible, because some concepts of Western learning were not compatible with the doctrine of Neo-Confucianism in itself. As it were, the theory of a round earth (地圓說)was obviously contradictory to and not complementary with any other Chinese traditional concepts such as the “flat earth”. Therefore, it was inevitable that one or both theories were to be modified or with in the Neo-Confuciandoctrine. Xingli Jingyi (性理精義), published in 1715, is a representative work of Neo-Confucianism in the early Qing period. Though Neo-Confucianism of the Qing period in general received relatively little attention by Qing scholars afterwards, nonetheless the publication of Xingli Jingyi was not meaningless as at the least it showed such manipulation stated above clearly. As a result, except the moralistic interpretation of the lunar eclipse, almost all arguments of the Neo-Confucian doctrine in question were eventually modified and replaced by the alternatives of Western learning without hesitation. The tendency that Neo-Confucianists were reluctant to reject the moralistic view of the lunareclipse,inmyopinion,couldbethe very point. Hence, this gives us a significant implication about why later Neo-Confucianists in the modern period would rather sacrifice all of natural science for the sake of Neo-Confucian metaphysics.