A Study On the Ontology of Jeong Yakyong: A Focus on the Comparative Study of Neo-Confucianism and Catholicism

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to prove that the ontology of Jeong Yakyong 's philosophy is based on Catholic theory. In order to achieve this goal, this article will try to explore not only the "God" that appears in Jeong Yakyong's philosophy, but also the "Noumenon" that Jeong Yakyong himself understands is also full of theological meanings of the Catholic "God." In this discussion, there are three main points of argument. First, broadly speaking, although Confucianism can be the Humanist Religion with religious characters by emphasizing "immanent transcendence", it is impossible to equate with Catholicism, because of the personality of God. Second, the missionaries who came to China in the late Ming Dynasty regarded the personified "God" as the Noumenon of their system of thought. This is also the reason why the missionaries criticize the Li. Third, Jeong Yakyong's questioning of Li is focused on the Li as the Noumenon but without reason and action. In this regard, the critical mind Jeong Yakyong has on the issue of the Li is parallel to the missionaries who denied the Li based on the personality of God. It can be seen that Jeong Yakyong does not deny the Noumenon, but puts the personified "God" in the position of the Noumenon represented by the Li.