담헌 홍대용의 탈성리학적 사상의 형성-理氣心性論에 따른 物의 談論 변화를 중심으로-

Abstract

Hongdaeyong is the most interesting person in his era, not only because he made great achievements in science, but because he emphasized the importance of moral relativism. He claimed that people should not look down on animals from a human perspective, but should respect their values themselves as meaningful as our own. Accepting multiple values was a radical idea, because almost all the other Neo-confucian scholars had a rigid value system and considered humans to be far more important than any other creatures on earth. His transformation began when he visited Qing. There he saw a new culture, and had some connection with Chinese scholars in academic and emotional way. These experiences transformed him from a neo-confucian into the post neo-confucian. The process of change shows the transition of his understanding about Theory of Liqi(理氣) and the relationship between human and animals(物). Hong Dae-yong followed the stream of Nak-school(洛論) study at his early age. But he had critical issues about the concept of Li and Xingshan(性善) which is the basic premise of Neo-confucianism at the same time. On the other hand, experiences at Qing were eye-opening for him, which made him stop interpreting animals according to human moral values and try to respect values of other being itself. This leads to 北學論, which claims the change in the past ideology to perceive other being and accept various perspectives.