양계초의 격의 서양철학에 관한 연구

Abstract

In Chinese modern and contemporary history, GeYi (格義, matching concepts) refers to a way of interpreting Western studies with the concepts and propositions of traditional Chinese studies. While this method was mainly used to interpret Western culture from the viewpoint of Chinese traditional culture in the 19th century, it was used to interpret Chinese traditional culture from the viewpoint of Western culture in the 20th century. Considering these two contrasting trends, it is worth noting that in the beginning of the 20th century, Liang Qi-chao(梁啓超, 1873-1929) introduced a series of Western philosophies using the concepts of Chinese traditional philosophy and it showed eclectic tendency. First, when introducing the philosophy of Bacon and Descartes, Liang Qi-chao mainly borrowed the concepts of Zhu Zi. He helped Chinese readers’ understanding by calling Bacon’s scientific experiment Gewu(格物, the investigation of things) and calling Descartes’ ‘exploration of self-evident truth through the methodical doubt’ Qiongli(窮理, the full comprehension principles). He criticized Chinese philosophical tradition, which tends to blindly follow the past by highlighting ‘the idols of the theater’ and criticized Bacon’s neglect of principles, in which sense he thought Bacon was inferior to Zhu Zi. This attempt of criticism is also seen in the comparison of Hobbes' political thought. In this text, Liang Qi-chao said that Hobbes’ and Xun Zi’s political thoughts are similar, but Hobbes is better in terms of political ideal, and Xun Zi is better in terms of consistency of ideological system. He also said that Hobbes' idea is similar to that of Mo Zi, but Mo Zi’s idea about the restriction of monarch's authority was a step forward. The method of GeYi by Liang Qi-chao is most frequently used in the texts that introduce Kant's philosophy. He found that both Kant and the epistemology of Yogacara School are in the standpoint that the world of phenomenon depends on human spirit, so he was able to explain Kant's epistemology using the terms of Yogacara School. He also found similarities between Kant's liberty, nirvana of Buddhism, and Zhu Zi’s morality in the field of moral philosophy, and said that Tathata(眞如, suchness) of Buddhism is better than Kant’s ‘real self’ in the sense that it means ‘the greater self(大我)’, and that Kant's moral philosophy is better than Zhu Zi as it means autonomous morality. The method of GeYi has the following significance. First, it helped Chinese people’s understanding of Western philosophy by explaining it with the concepts of Chinese traditional philosophy at the time when China was starting to embrace Western philosophy. Second, similarities and important differences between the Eastern and Western ideas were revealed. Third, it is significant that the way of criticizing Western philosophy with Eastern philosophy and criticizing Eastern philosophy with Western philosophy is based on the viewpoint to see Eastern and Western studies in a balanced way.