18, 19세기 자연과학적 기철학의 문화공존 윤리 - 홍대용, 정약용, 최한기의 리기론을 중심으로 -

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to study the multicultural ethics of three thinkers, based on their ontologies, who tried to find ways to coexist with people who are from an unfamiliar culture, in the time of transition from a closed system to an open system of international society. Hong Dae-young accepted western cosmology and geography in his Confucian foundation, the thoughts of Qi, and built a new outlook on the world which overcomes the existing ideological Sinocentric outlook on the world. In his ethics, all creations and regions can be a center based on his doctrine of spherical earth, and at the same time all creations and regions cannot be a center or be in a superior position from the point of view of the Great Void(太虛). On this ontological base, he drew a set of decentralized relativist ethics overcoming discriminative awareness on the differences of people. Jeong Yak-yong emphasized the autonomous and independent choice of humans, denying the neo-Confucian premise which claimed that humans are innately good. He asserted that good and the evil are not innate, and people can judge whether a person's deed was good or bad only after the action has been executed. On this ontological understanding, he asserted that one can judge whether a people or a nation are barbaric or civilized based on the people's behavior and the country's cultural advancement. Overall, he drew open and reasonable ethics based on mutual understanding. Choi Han-gi asserted that Qi is everywhere with the same quality and at the same time all creatures, made from Qi, are different from each other. On this ontological point of view, he suggested a possibility of respecting each individual's personality and each region's severalty while coexisting peacefully with all creatures because they are the all same in the ultimate stage. For realizing this possibility, people need to ceaselessly endeavor to understand the differences and diversity of people and culture.