“To be in or out, that is not the question” – Confucian eyes in Daoist body in Late Chosŏn period - HAL Accéder directement au contenu
Communication dans un congrès Année : 2015

“To be in or out, that is not the question” – Confucian eyes in Daoist body in Late Chosŏn period

Résumé

This presentation aims, once more, to challenge to the received idea about undeniable and exclusive Confucian character of Chosŏn literati society. It seems more and more likely that during Chosŏn period, Daoist scriptures were widely read by literati as liberal culture in private space. From the 18th century when Korean orthodox ideology of Zhu Xi’s school was challenged seriously and in divers ways, Daoist thoughts and ideas were peeked into or even mobilized more openly in Confucian literati’s intellectual effort to meet live issues of the time. The expression “Confucian eyes” in the title has to be nuanced, as their standpoint and purpose in their reading of Daoism are plural: one intends to criticize his contemporary Confucian ideology and society (ex. Pak Sedang 朴世堂), another to recover a Confucian primordial spirit (ex. Hong Sŏkchu 洪奭周), a third to embrace outright Daoist stance (ex. Yi Ch’ung-ik 李忠翊). However, in those encounters of two traditions, we notice some general points relevant to this topic. My analysis is applied to their commentaries on Daoist scriptures or discourses on Daoist elements and leads to discern four categories of idea that refer or allude to openness to Daoism from the Confucian viewpoint. Firstly, we cannot overlook Confucian concerns lying in the root, such as humanism (attaching prime importance to value and action of human beings), moralism (highlighting primacy of moral values on other values), traditionalism (commitment to the values of the past handed down by tradition) and pragmatism (search for practicality and application to reality). It is these claims or ultimate concerns that retain Confucian characters in their commentaries or discourses. Secondly, they show at the same time a kind of inclusivist attitude that consists in the assertion that “other sets of ideas are partially true” or the rational choice of ideas from other traditions. As such, quest for Confucian truth — in particular, search for an alternative to noron’s 老論 rigid dogmatism in the political context of this period — relied here on the authority or value of Daoist scriptures. Thirdly, they conceive ideal beings and society in which there is no discrimination between “in” and “out” in regard to particular tenet : respect for highly virtuous person (達者, 通人, 上人, etc.) from other traditions is widely observed ; they recognize common truth or model for government (“Great Center” 皇極 or “Perfect equilibrium” 中正) in highest level to reach a common good in an ideal society. Fourthly and finally, we have some cases in which Daoist scriptures are estimated through their proper nature and value. They are descriptions in detail on books such as their strong and weak points, compilation, contents, printed books in circulation and commentaries. According to a recent study (리상용, 조선시대 해제목록에 나타난 도가서적 道家書籍 연구, 한국비블리아학회지 24 (2013)) on three government compilations and one private compilation, these catalogues contain reviews faithful to contents of Daoist books with impartial and objective rather than critical attitude. In those Chosŏn literati’s detached-mind from dogmatism, we observe a comprehensive thinking common to Confucianism and Daoism (and probably Buddhism too). Hence Confucian thought had already an inherent possibility to share some viewpoints with other tenet, rendering Taoist scriptures provided as “open text”. Furthermore, some insights — attained through new approaches, critical mind or drawing together about fundamental concepts and thesis on worldview, valuation, or reasoning — led to new understanding, interpretation and refinement of not only Daoist scriptures and concepts but also Confucian ideas themselves.
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halshs-01241144, version 1 (16-05-2023)

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  • HAL Id : halshs-01241144 , version 1

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Daeyeol Kim. “To be in or out, that is not the question” – Confucian eyes in Daoist body in Late Chosŏn period. 27th AKSE Conference, Association of Korean Studies in Europe, Jul 2015, Bochum, Germany. ⟨halshs-01241144⟩
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