• The Journal of Korean Philosophical History
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• no.29
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• pp.89-123
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• 2010

As above, as theoretical basis of critiques against School of Mohism, the researcher summarized the positions of the elder Confucian scholars including Meng Zi. In the body of text, taking it as promises, the researcher examined the critiques against Mo Tzu and School of Mohism as well focusing on the aspects and development of the theory of rejecting heterodoxy which had been introduced and strongly argued from the end of Goryeo kingdom to the late Joseon period. The summary of the body of this text is as follows: In the old literatures prior to Goryeo Kingdom, the researcher couldn't find any cases that either the School of Mohism or Mo Tzu including the Hundred Schools of Thought had been rejected explicitly. Having reached the end of Goryeo and the beginning of Joseon period, Meng Zi's viewpoints on the theory of rejecting heterodoxy had begun to emerge and come into play with the progress of accepting Neo-Confucianism, and, these critiques against Yang Zhu and Mo Tzu being given, the scholar-literati circle had started rejecting Buddhism and Lao Tzu. Basically the contents of the critiques against the School of Mohism in the early period of Joseon were in succession to Meng Zi's theory of rejecting heterodoxy and the views and thoughts of the elder Confucian scholars including Han Yu rather than any specific critiques against Mo Tzu' ideology itself. Until entering the middle of Joseon period, the critiques against the School of Mohism had been used as a tool to promote Confucianism in an affirmative manner, while arguing strongly against the viewpoint of Han Yu in the first place. Particularly, not only the original text of the Mo Tzu's writings were directly quoted, although it was partial, but also the contents of the critiques against the School of Mohism had been developed and stretched to the extent of their entire ideological system. Having approached to the late period of Joseon, the critiques against the School of Mohism had begun to be linked to those critiques against the study of state examination or of sentence patterns including Catholic Church, furthermore the critics raised their harsh tones against the irregularities of the society at large like the issue of corruptions of the government officials of those days instead, although they still had firmly stood on the ground of the theory of rejecting heterodoxy. Those scholars that belonged to the School of Practical Learning, in particular, said in justification of the School of Mohism arguing that the major ideologies of Mo Zi had usefulness in the real world, also they even evaluated that Meng Zi ' critiques against the School of Mohism were immoderate. To sum up, characteristics of scholars in the Joseon period to understand and critique the School of Mohism are that ideologies of Mo Tzu were mostly used as a tool for the sake of critiques against heresies in other sectors of society based mainly on Meng Zi's theory of rejecting heterodoxy, rather than opposing views against the ideologies or philosophies of the School of Mohism itself. Meanwhile, however, on the plus side, the critics praised Mo Tzu's individual efforts in order to put his ideology of peace into practice apart from the ideological system of the School of Mohism. Also, having reached the late period of Joseon, the researcher was able to have discovered the fact that the writings of Mo Tzu had been used as historical materials in order to ascertain historical truths of Confucian Scriptures, rather not having it regarded as an ideology text.

• (The)Study of the Eastern Classic
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• no.67
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• pp.297-325
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• 2017

In this paper, the ideological features of Mohism were examined through the analysis into the viewpoint of Mohism on justice and benefit and "universal love" based on it. Even before the viewpoint on justice and benefit became a main agenda in Confucianism, Mohism and the Hundred Schools of Thought, there had been discussions on it, and the relation between "justice" and "benefit" was generally understood as that of means and ends(本末) or that of the thing and its functions(體用). What succeeded to this tendency and set it as an individual's moral standard was the viewpoint of Confucianism including Confucius. Of course, the Confucian view was focused on the politicians or leaders of those times. Compared to which, Mohism represented the stance of their group members and pursued the interest of groups and the society rather than that of individuals. Accordingly, while Confucianism considered "justice" more important than "benefit", Mohism could understand both of them unificatively. The crucial reason why Mohism could be most active during the Warring States Period is that it had its metaphysical basis on "the disposition of Providence." Accompanying this, the viewpoint of Mohism on justice and benefit was internally reflected in its key arguments including "universal love." That is so-called "Jianxiangai, Jiaoxiangli", that is to say, "that loving each other is namely benefiting each other." On the other hand, the fact that the viewpoint of Mohism on justice and benefit, and furthermore, the ideological foundation of its ten main arguments including universal love was "the disposition of Providence" became a double-edged sword. It was because it could be easily accepted by the laborers, farmers, and craftsmen consisting of Mohism of those times, but it instead became the reason for falling into ruins since the establishment of the feudal empire of Qin and Han(秦漢). In the feudal empire, the ideology and activities of Mohism as an individual group couldn't be embraced. For example, the way to set "Heaven"(the heavenly king) above "the sovereign ruler" might be a decisive limit to the legitimacy and rationality of the regime. Moreover, the arguments by Mohism, such as "Jieyong", "Jiezang", "Feiyue" and others couldn't be taken easily by the privileged class. Therefore, Mohism couldn't do any activities as an academic school until Seojedongjeom(西勢東漸) during the Qing dynasty later, and it was different from Confucianism. In brief, ideas of Mohism including universal love ended up as an utopian idea historically, but the conception of sharing mutual interest along with mutual love and consideration with Confucianism from the position of the relatively disadvantaged in the society has a value worthy of being appreciated even today.

• The Journal of Korean Philosophical History
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• no.38
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• pp.189-220
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• 2013

In this paper, the discussion on Yin and Yang and the Five Elements in Mohism is examined through the comparison with Hundred Schools of Thought. The ideas of School of Naturalists including Zou Yan or those of the Five Elements were fundamentally for the purpose of observing the regularity of changing dynasty. However, this perspective had not been emphasized as a subject of Contention of a Hundred Schools of Thought until the end of the Era of Warring States. Even though it is true that Hundred Schools of Thought applied the theory of Yin and Yang and the Five Elements in common based on the understanding of the idea, but it failed to be connected to each ideological system. The fundamental reason for this can be found in the difference between the awareness of a reality and the concept of history in Hundred Schools of Thought. Where were the characteristics and reasonable opinions of the theory of Yin and Yang and the Five Elements in Mohism from? The most important feature of Mohism is to form independent, collective, cooperative groups based on the people of lower classes at that time and to consider God an ideological presumption. Therefore, in reality, it concentrated only on sociopolitical stability and maintenance of their own labor activities, and it was difficult for them to focus on an objective regularity of a national system or change of dynasty. In addition, due to the characteristics of individual groups, it was hard to have a macroscopic viewpoint not only on a national system, but also on others as in Zou Yan's Dae-gu-ju-seol(大九州說). With respect to this, at least, Xunzi, before the unification, gives a valid criticism. In the end, the effort to design a new political system and to secure ideological legitimacy on the assumption of the unification of the nations of the Warring States period became more specific through the edition of $L{\ddot{u}}shi$ Chunqiu (呂氏春秋), so-called Mixed School(雜家) or Synthesized School(綜合家).

• The Journal of Korean Philosophical History
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• no.59
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• pp.215-240
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• 2018

In this paper, the contents about funeral rites in "the Book of Etiquette and Ceremonial"(儀禮) were compared to those in the books of Hundred Schools of Thought. The most direct and systematic document related to funeral rites is "the Book of Etiquette and Ceremonial". Some of its contents had been reflected in the books of Hundred Schools of Thought, such as "Zuo Zhuan", "Mozi" and "Xunzi", while others didn't agree with one another. It happened because some contents had been already reflected in the books of Hundred Schools of Thought in the process of establishing scriptures about manners including the ancient "Book of Etiquette and Ceremonial", and because, on the contrary, the contents of the books of Hundred Schools of Thought had become included in the scriptures about manners by following Confucianism. First, the basic contents of Chapter 'Mourning Clothes' in "the Book of Etiquette and Ceremonial" were generally reflected in the books of Hundred Schools of Thought, and there are many contents in common. Most prominently, three-year-mourning for parents and a king had been enhanced in Confucianism commonly. Although Mohism opposed Confucian luxurious and long funerals (厚葬久喪), the mourning clothing system in "the Book of Etiquette and Ceremonial" can be said to have been people's universal understanding until the Spring and Autumn period at least. In addition, it has been verified that there were differences in the mourning clothes depending on the one who wore them was an adult or not both in "the Book of Etiquette and Ceremonial" and the books of Hundred Schools of Thought. On the other hand, many arguments in the contents about funeral rites reflected in the books of Hundred Schools of Thought were different from the rules in "the Book of Etiquette and Ceremonial". In particular, the mourning clothes for parents reflected in the books of Hundred Schools of Thought showed that there were differences depending on social positions, which was dissimilar to the regulations in "the Book of Etiquette and Ceremonial". Also, different from the mourning clothes system for parents and a king, the system for a wife and a concubine was dissimilar to the rules in "the Book of Etiquette and Ceremonial" in many ways. Since the regulations of Chapter of 'Mourning Clothes' in the present version of "the Book of Etiquette and Ceremonial" suggest different mourning clothes and periods depending on who wears the mourning clothes and what social position the deceased had, it seems difficult to implement them strictly historically as well as at those times. Especially, while the funeral rituals for a child was relatively clear based on the parent-child relationship of "affection" and those for a king and parents were plainly regulated and emphasized, the rules of those for a vassal and a wife were absent or ambiguous in many cases. Therefore, the term of "the Theee Bonds"(三綱) appeared first in Dong Zhongshu(董仲舒)'s "Luxuriant Dew of the Spring and Autumn Annals"(春秋繁露) that reflected the ideology of political ethics of Han Dynasty(漢代), but regarding its contents, it can be said to have been already reflected in "the Book of Etiquette and Ceremonial".