주희와 화이트헤드의 형이상학적 신관 비교

Abstract

In the process philosophy of A. N. Whitehead, God plays very important role and contains both transcendence and immanence differing from the monotheism of Christianity. Whitehead explained that God’s nature is polar, primordial, and consequential, and God can be defined as an actual entity. Thus, God’s immanence is very strong as compared with monotheism. The process philosophy of ontology, however, is based on concrescence of an actual entity so that it can be considered that God is not necessarily needed due to the ability of self-organization by the function of an actual entity in the organic cosmos. The role of God is closely related with the relationship between eternal object and actual entity in the process philosophy. This is because Whitehead also takes a position of Christian monotheism. Therefore, his theology is a metaphysical theology and defines both transcendence and immanence at the same time. In the Neo-Confucianism, Qi-cosmology of Zhang Zai, Li and Taiji are not needed because Qi effects can explain creation of all things and changes of the cosmos. Zhu Xi, however, said that the variety of all things could not be explained by Qi, so he established Li-Qi Dualism by introducing the metaphysical category of Li. In addition, he set up Taiji as the ultimate, which means the ultimate Li, or controller of all separate Li. However, the differential role between God and eternal object is not clearly divided, differing from process philosophy. This is because Taiji contains both esthetic value and ethical value. Neo-Confucianism inherited the idea of Heaven from ancient Confucianism, and it explained the idea of Heaven as the providence of nature. It seems to assert a theistic God due to anthropomorphic explanation. Zhu Xi, however, explained Heaven as logos like Li and Taiji. Though Neo-Confucianism performs ancestral rites that worship Heaven, great men, and ancestors, its dynamism of creativity in civilization is weaker than the theism of the West. In particular, the Yin-Yang theory of "The I Ching" stresses the vitality of Qi, differing from the creativity of Whitehead; however, it still emphasizes the circulating repetition of Qi. This can be the reason some Neo-Confucianists in the Joseon Dynasty accepted Christian theology and also why Protestantism has spread throughout Korean society of today. If an unrealistic, transcendental Ultimate, not theism, can be accepted as the Ultimate through the process philosophy of Whitehead, the unbalanced diet in the religion of the Korean intellectuals needs to be improved by a new interpretation of the metaphysical theology of Neo-Confucianism and the merits of organic cosmology.