규원사화에 보이는 과학적 사유와 세계관

Abstract

Gyuwon Sahwa is a historical story of the middle of the Joseon Dynasty where the Korean myth of the creation of the world and the Dangun dynastic history are written. In this story, the author poses questions on the causes of the sizes, temperatures, and movements of celestial bodies that are different from the existing concepts of the universe and the Confucian view of the world. He suggests there is a God who created and presides over the world, as the movement of the universe is well-ordered. That is, the elaborate structure and well-ordered movement are not naturally possible, so there must be God who controls that existence and movement. Through it, the author nominated Hwanin as the absolute who would protect the people of Joseon who were suffering from internal and external wars. It shows the author’s, Buk-aeja, unique way of thinking, and it is also a sign that informed the trend of the time. That trend being a newly awaken national awareness and appearance of a new view of the world after two wars, the Japanese Invasion, and theManchu War. Even though it was just a simple presentation of a problem compared to Western science, he had a unique scientific approach as he observed the nature with his naked eyes and tried to reinterpret the world based on his experience, unlike other scholars who saw nature as following natural law and understood the world through scriptures. Also, Bukaeja, who tried to find the truth of empirical tradition through the proposition that he gained through practical experience or observation of the nature, shows the beginning of the modern view of the world that puts stress on reality and experience, excluding abstract concept such as Four Clue - Seven Emotion or Nature-emotion Theory(四端七情論) in the "Basic principles" and the "atmospheric force” of nature(理氣論).