• The Journal of Korean Philosophical History
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• no.31
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• pp.347-374
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• 2011

Along with Hujiwara Seika(藤原惺窩), Hayashi Razan(林羅山) is called the founder of the Japanese Confucianism in the Eto(江戶) era. And it is necessary for us to grasp that how Razan understand the theory of I-Ki(理氣論), then we can investigate the characteristics of his thought. In ordinary, people understand that the theory of I-Ki, as a completed view of the world, is integration of the structure of theory of the neo-Confucianism. So a certain thinker's ideological attitude is determined according to how people understand the theory. And then we can grasp the structure of his view of the world and human. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to study how Razan had understanded the I(理) and Ki(氣). In spite of a scholar of Zhu Xi(朱熹), Razan didn't accept Zhu's view of I-Ki, he seem to lean toward the view of Wang Yangmings'(王陽明) in the his early learning days. But that doesn't mean he is a scholar of doctrine of Wang Yangming. When he meets the logical contradiction under the process of investigating the problem of Sein and Sollen, he just only to explain it with logic of Ki(氣) which is closed by mind. Meanwhile if we suppose I(理) is pure goodness and there is no things outside of I(理), if so Razan doubts about that where is the root of evil and he try to investigate the answer. In his latter years, Razan takes Zhu Xi's doctrine again get out of the mental attitude to the view of I-Ki(理氣). The outcome of precedent study about Razan points a fact that Razan needs a little more digging into the ieda of 'Fact and Sollen' which had been the reason of ideal confusion of him. But his ideal confusion is not the point of issue. Point is that Razan had understanded I-Ki(理氣) with monistic of Shim(心) in his early years. As a result, that bring about the outcome which exclude ontological thinking, and had come to grips with aspects of Sollen of all things in understanding of the doctrine of Zhu Xi. And I think that is the clue to understanding of Razan's learning.