마테오 리치의 空과 無의 批判에 대한 硏究 - 『天主實義』를 중심으로 -

Abstract

Matteo Ricci had approached logically from the two aspects, existence ground and cognition ground about ultimate reality, in order to establish the foundation for the acceptance of Confucianism for God. In the aspect of the ground of the existence he has attempted to criticize the origin of the existence of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism(Neo-Confucianism). Ricci criticized Emptiness, Nothingness and the Great Absolute of the three religions on the basis of principle of existence which could be Metaphysical ground in Catholic studies. Ricci especially judged Emptiness and Nothingness as dependent·unsubstantial being for the reason that they could not satisfy the four factor theory of Scholasticism. Ricci, in this argument, judged Emptiness and Nothingness after he premised men's rational reasoning ability of front·rear and internal·external and then he divided the four factors as internal and external principle and applied them to the theory of front·rear and internal·external. In the aspect of the cognition of the existence he has attempted to apply Negative Theology. Negative Theology is a theological theory intending to negate the usage of the determination and limitation for God by pointing out the problems in the cognition and interpretation about God. Negative Theology has intention to overcome the determination of language and concept by releasing the limitation due to the affirmative determination of 'is' and 'exist' through the negative determination of 'is not' and 'not exist' on the premise that positive definition of God paradoxically limits the essence of God within the category of the definition so that it could be partial to understand God While Ricci argued about God and the Metaphysical existence of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism in order to establish Catholic studies, he interpreted Emptiness-Nothingness as 'non-existence' and he criticized that these could not become the first principle. This interpretation made it possible to judge that Ricci had overlooked Oriental style of expression and system of thinking structure about the cognition of the existence. However, Ricci's critique of Emptiness and Nothingness was whether Emptiness and Nothingness had Metaphysical character or not, so it was throughly compared with the principle of Being in Catholic studies. What Ricci has paid attention to was the meaning of non-existence of Emptiness·Nothingness as a Metaphysical condition. It seems unreasonable to conclude that these processes showed that Ricci's cognition of Emptiness and Nothingness was simply a level of literal understanding category.