How Physical Laws Were Understood in Mid-19th Century East Asia : A Comparative Study of Choe Han-gi and Nishi Amane
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概要
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This article analyzes the work of two Neo-Confucianists, Choe Han-gi (1803-1877) and Nishi Amane (1829-1897), who endeavored to construct the metaphysical ground of modern scientific knowledge in Korea and Japan during the mid-19th century. The influx of Western scientific knowledge into East Asia triggered a reinterpretation of Neo-Confucianism, which had been the main body of traditional knowledge. Nishi and Choe designed the philosophical underpinning that allowed acceptance of modern Western scientific knowledge. This involved division of the ri (理, principle) of Neo-Confucianism into two different concepts, the laws of the physical world and those of the human world. Choe's and Nishi's concepts of the laws of the physical world were clearly similar to the laws of nature of modern Western science. Although Nishi and Choe found a way to reinterpret Neo-Confucianism and to construct the metaphysical ground for acceptance of modern Western science, by dividing ri, the significance is that they tried to reconnect the laws of the physical world with those of the human world. This study will attempt to demonstrate Various prototypes for the metaphysical ground of modern scientific knowledge existed in mid-19th century East Asia.
- 2010-07-31