A Study on Dam-Hun's Theory of "Equality of Human Being and the Other Living Things" - The Change of "Inmulsongdongiron" and Its Significance in the Late Choson Dynasty

Abstract

Hong Dae-Yong, pen name Dam-Hun, demonstrates the process and features of theoretical change of "Inmulsongdongiron (the theory of whether human nature and things nature are same or different)", and his idea can be summarized as Theory of "Inmulgyon (Equality of human being and the other living things)". While Dam-Hun inherits the position of Nak sector school (a sector that supports the theory that human being and an animal have same nature), he also shows the different characters from the previous arguments. In the relations between human beings and nature, based on the scientific understanding and the doctrine of material force as the principal, Dam-Hun sees both nature and a human being as a being which consist of the activity of Material Force, ki. He suggested the concept In (benevolence) as the common pneuma inherent in a human being and an animal, and asserted that this In is the universal principle, Li. The traditional Zhu-Xi school tried to secure the moral absolutes by explaining the nature system using Sung Li (nature as universal principle). In contrast, Dam-Hun could overcome the human-centered system of thought by explaining the principle, Li using In, the universal principle of the nature system. He thought that there is no difference between the human being and all the living things have the same brilliant Virtue. He said that although the appearance that the Mind reveals in reality is different, the brilliant Virtue inherent in every living thing is the same. Nak sector school saw that the nature of human being is the same as the one of an animal, but didn't admit that the mind is identical. However, Dam-Hun saw that a human being and an animal have no differences from each other in the entity of the Mind. In this respect, his theory can be seen as the extension of Nak sector school's Theory of the Mind. All things are the same, if seen in the level of Li and Mind, and the differences, among human beings:and between an human being and an animal, result from whether the natural born ki, material force is pure or not. Dam-Hun freed himself from the viewpoint that the human being is superior to other beings in its moral value, and saw both of them from the universal point of view. This viewpoint of his provided the academic community in the late Choson Dynasty with a basis of science. He made it possible for "Inmulsongdongiron" to go beyond the frame of Theory of Mind and Nature, and to change into the matter of differences in values. In this sense, Dam-Hun's philosophy, Theory of Equality of human and the other living things can be regarded as the changeover of "Inmulsongdongiron (the theory that human being and a things have same nature)".