The development of Silhak thought

Development of Silhak Thought

As the people's livelihood fell into a deep crisis due to the continuous war after the Imjin War, Silhak thought appeared to save the people and restore the stable order of society. Silhak thought in Korea developed in the process of criticizing NeoConfucianism, which had been inherited as the orthodox ideology of Joseon society. The most notable difference between Korea's Silhak thought and Neo-Confucianism is that Neo-Confucianism had a strong tendency to pursue a perfected human being through Confucian moral cultivation, whereas Silhak was helpful in real life and focused on practical and practical problems. point. Jeong Yak-yong is a scholar who clearly shows the true nature of Korean Silhak.

Jeong Yakyong compiled Korean Silhak thought while working from the late 18th century to the early 19th century. He criticized the fact that Neo-Confucianism was engrossed in ideological debates on the theory of selfishness while ignoring the livelihood of the people. He argued that the position of Neo-Confucianism that morality is innately endowed with humans is not correct, and that human morality is the result obtained through practice because virtue is formed after doing good.

He said, "The name of benevolence, righteousness, wisdom, and wisdom comes after doing things. Therefore, it is called benevolence after loving a person, but before loving a person, the name benevolence is not established."

In addition, he saw desire as the driving force that enables humans to act and live, while discovering the positive meaning of desire, and at the same time paying attention to the phenomenon of conflict between the mind to follow morality and the mind to follow personal greed in the heart. Here, he presents the character of human beings who require independent decisions and actions in life.

Jeong Yak-yong saw that heaven endowed humans with a mind of wisdom, and that mind delighted in goodness, hated evil, liked virtue, and was ashamed of disgrace. In this way, he presented as his own concept of sexuality the theory that the human mind grasps something as a sign, such as enjoying or hating something. At the same time, it is emphasized that since Heaven has endowed human hearts with the power to do good if they want to do good, and to do evil if they want to do evil, the good deeds they practice become their credit, but the bad deeds become their will. did

Jeong Yak-yong's Silhak thought did not stop at recognizing the irrationality of the social system and suggesting reform and opening plans. By shedding new light on various fields, the flow of Korean thought history has been enriched. Gyeonghak is the study of Confucian scriptures, and Jeong Yak-yong compiled an interpretation of the 4 books and 6 scriptures.

Entering the late Joseon Dynasty, individual ethical consciousness became more rare and society entered a more confused aspect. In order to overcome these problems of real society, Korean Confucian thought appeared in various forms.