CH'OE HAN-GI'S CONFUCIAN PHILOSOPHY OF EXPERIENCE: NEW NAMES FOR OLD WAYS OF THINKING

In this article, it is argued that Ch'oe Han-gi (1803-1877), a Korean Confucian scholar from the late Chosŏn, can be credited with finding the full philosophical significance of the notion of experience (kyŏnghŏm). At the same time, his philosophy of experience can be interpreted adequately in...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPhilosophy east & west Vol. 62; no. 2; pp. 186 - 196
Main Author Chang, Wonsuk
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Honolulu University of Hawaii Press 01.04.2012
University of Hawai'i Press
Subjects
Analysis
Ch'oe Han-gi
Confucianism
Correlatives
Criticism and interpretation
Empiricism
Energy
Experience
Human organs
Korean literature
Modern philosophy
Perception theory
Philosophers
Philosophical analysis
Philosophy
Sensory perception
United States
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Summary:In this article, it is argued that Ch'oe Han-gi (1803-1877), a Korean Confucian scholar from the late Chosŏn, can be credited with finding the full philosophical significance of the notion of experience (kyŏnghŏm). At the same time, his philosophy of experience can be interpreted adequately in the context of not British empiricist but Confucian philosophical assumptions. There is both continuity and discontinuity in Ch'oe's relation to Confucian tradition. Unlike the Confucian traditionalist, he admitted that inherited knowledge and practice are potentially fallible. Confucian tradition, though still reliable, becomes less important than the process of the world itself, in whose flux all experience must be repeatedly tested. For Ch'oe, humans imbued with configurative energy and with their capability for correlative thinking become skilled in experiencing the world directly without absolute dependence on past Confucian traditions.
ISSN:0031-8221
1529-1898
1529-1898
DOI:10.1353/pew.2012.0019