潛冶 朴知誡의 格物說

Abstract

This paper is a study on Jam-ya Pak Ji-gye’s theory of Ge-wu in the early 17th century. Jam-ya criticized his opponents in argument related Ge-wu, stating that they wanted to break free in any way. He also considered himself a follower of Zhu-xi's theory. He insisted in following the theory as it was and even extremely said to follow it thoughtlessly. In this sense, he can be regarded as an adherent. However, he also was judged to be critical of Zhu-xi's theory because he sometimes stood against Sa-gye's theory which maintained Yul-gok’s authentic theory. This judgment is reasonable if Sa-gye’s studies are regarded as Neo-confucianism (the teachings of Zhu-xi). Jam-ya retained his enthusiasm for newly establishing Neo-confucianism which had been damaged during the Japanese Invasion of Korea in 1592. He paid attention to examining the exact meaning of Ge-wu as his first step to establishing a new definition of Neo-confucianism. Jam-ya’s ultimate principle was ‘in order to establish perfect awareness ability, extrinsic objects must be contemplated and investigated.'He criticized his opponent Man-hoi because Man-hoi understood ge-wu to mean 'the process of the recognition object (wu) coming to the recognition subject.' He pointed out essential matters in his arguments related to the reason why Zhu-xi' interpreted ‘Wu 物’ into ‘Ji 至 (reach).' In other words, he argued that ‘Ji’ had to be interpreted as the stage of speculation and investigation progress, neither as the recognition subject approached the recognition object nor vice versa. It carries an important meaning to provide a clue to solve the gap between the explanation and theory related to the theory of Ge-wu in Neo-confucianism. We expect this article about study on Jam-ya Pak Ji-gye’s theory of Ge-wu will be an essential clue for understanding Neo-confucianism’s entire state of development in the seventeenth century of Joseon.