Abstract
Korean Confucianism was firmly rooted in the Chinese Classics. Moreover, Korea paid close attention to developments within Chinese Confucianism over the centuries, and, as a result, Korean Confucians debated many of the same issues Chinese Confucians debated. However, that does not mean Korean Confucianism was a carbon copy of Chinese Confucianism. Koreans made Confucianism their own and felt free to use the tools Confucianism provided to address issues that were of particular interest to them.
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Notes
- 1.
The locus classicus for the moral mind/ human mind distinction is the phrase in the “Counsels of Yu” section of the Book of History (Legge 1972: 61) that is usually translated as “the mind of man is precarious: the moral mind is subtle” (Chan 1963: 623–26). The pre-activated mind/ engaged mind distinction refers to the mind before there are any stirrings of emotions and the mind once those emotions have stirred, as mentioned first in the Doctrine of the Mean (Plaks 2003: 25). The human nature/physical nature distinction is elaborated upon, and made an important philosophical distinction, by Zhu Xi and other early Neo-Confucians.
- 2.
Yun adds “the kind of truth that was T’oegye’s main focus is the kind of practical knowledge or truth needed for the practice of morality rather than the objective sort of truth that is truth for the sake of truth” (Yun 1990: 46).
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Baker, D. (2019). What is Korean about Korean Confucianism?. In: Ro, Yc. (eds) Dao Companion to Korean Confucian Philosophy. Dao Companions to Chinese Philosophy, vol 11. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2933-1_3
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