The Philosophical Turn in Tonghak: Focusing on the Extension of Ethics of Ch’oe Sihyŏng

Abstract:One of the dominant understandings of Tonghak 東學 (Eastern Learning) in Korea is that it is a modern Confucianism. It has been suggested, for example, that Tonghak is a sort of popularized Confucianism, while others maintain Tonghak to be the perfect form of Confucianism. But there are different interpretations regarding Tonghak thought. In this study, I endeavor to show how Tonghak thought differs from Confucianism, focusing on Tonghak’s new interpretations of self, nature, and Heaven. Tonghak thought, especially according to Haewŏl 海月 Ch’oe Sihyŏng 崔時亨, presents naturalistic concepts of humans and things that differ from those of Confucianism, and they expand the object of ethics from humans to all things. In Ch’oe Sihyŏng’s philosophy, this forms the cosmology of chŏnji pumomanmul tongp’o 天地父母—萬物同胞 (Heaven and Earth are parents, all things are brothers) and the ethics of kyŏngmul 敬物 (respect for things). In this sense, one can position Tonghak as the beginning of a new Korean philosophy rather than as a form of popularized Confucianism. In the early twentieth century, Tonghak’s kaebyŏk movement was succeeded by Wŏn Buddhism, and in the late twentieth century, Ch’oe Sihyŏng’s thought developed into the Hansallim Movement (Hansallim undong), a cooperative movement based on Tonghak thought, as a solution to the modern ecological problems caused by industrialization.