의당 박세화의 경학과 그 의미

Abstract

Ui-Dang Park Sehwa is a Confucian scholar of the Joseon period and a patriot who laid down his life for his country. He was evaluated as a leader of the Confucian study since he committed suicide when the Joseon dynasty was perished. His learning as a Confucian scholar, especially his Kyunghak (the Study of Confucianism), shows a model of the Kyunghak in the late Joseon dynasty. This Kyunghak of Ui-Dang was basically established on the foundation of Chu Hsi’s Kyunghak. However, on the other hand, he also held an open attitude to accept other scholars’ advantages. And when reading the confucian scriptures, he emphasized understanding the main meaning, which appeared in the whole book, rather than the scholia or style of the scriptures. As such, the Kyunghak of Ui-Dang has complementary and analytical aspects to Chu Hsi’s doctrines, but its main purpose is to pursue understanding the main meanings of the texts. The pursuit to the Kyunghak’s main meaning of Ui-Dang finally resulted in establishing the ‘benevolence(仁)’ as the main principle of Confucianism under the methodology that was searching the main meaning of the scriptures by mutually quoting the sentences of various scriptures. This trend of Ui-Dang’s Kyunghak can not be said to be deviated from that of doctrines of Chu-tzu. However, Ui-Dang and his students were clearly immersed in searching for the main meaning of the scriptures and linked them to experiences and practices, not just to academic theories. This is clearly distinguishable from the Kyunghak of Zhu Xi’s school in the Joseon Dynasty.