조선 후기의 지전설 재검토

Abstract

It is well known that a number of thinkers in the late Chosŏn period upheld a concept of the “earth's rotation". Since this occurred at the time when the Jesuits, who were virtually the only source of Western scientific knowledge in China, were forbidden to discuss this idea, debate has continued among historians about the sources of this concept for these late Chosŏn thinkers and about whether they arrived at it independently or derived it from other Western sources. By studying the actual circumstances in which the idea of the earth's rotation appeared in the writings of Kim Sŏk-mun (金錫文, 1658-1735), Yi Ik (李瀷, 1681-1763), Hong Tae-yong (洪大容, 1731-1783), and Pak Chi-won (朴趾源, 1737-1805), in which the concept of the earth's rotation first appeared and by examining the complexities surrounding this concept in the East Asian world at the time, including the various possible sources for the concept in both East Asia and the West, this paper attempts to throw light on our understanding how these thinkers were able to conceptualize this theory.