騎牛子 李行의 經世思想

Abstract

This article is to review development and contents of Giwooja(騎牛子) Lee Haeng(李行)'s governing thought by examining what his life, his times and thinking over social issues at that time and their solutions were like. Lee Haeng was typical posterity from a new group of classical scholars(新進士類). Lee Haeng's ideological stance has greatly broad and extensive categories. His ideological features can be summarized as exclusion of heterodoxy and worship in Confucianism. Lee Haeng emphasized that talents selection should also be implemented after evaluating one's ability and achievement required for each position. Lee Haeng criticized that ordinary people with lower social status were regarded humble as there were so many negative effects of honorary post that destroyed order of social status. His thought of farmland system reform basically insisted that public land system for breaking private lands and making them vested in the state should be revived, which was not much different from other scholars arguing farmland system reform. Lee Haeng argued that powerful families(權門勢族) put vast land together and it caused the nation's economic difficulties and heavy taxation ultimately failed to stabilize people's life and frequently brought about conflicts as well, which led to collapse of beautiful and fine custom and it was due to the evil of private land. Consequently, Lee Haeng considered breaking private land was the only means to follow the royal court's good cause and the best to newly build up foundation for the nation's long-lasting peace.