Jeong Yak-yong (Dasan)

Agora

Jeong Yak-yong (Dasan)

1762–1836

A first way ina deliberate simplification – the portrait says more

Human nature is a leaning toward the good, virtue is earned by acting well, and government exists to serve the people.

Placement

East Asian Philosophy · East Asia · Ethics, Politics & Law

Thinker of Korean “practical learning” (silhak), exiled for 18 years: human nature is a disposition of preference, virtue is acquired in action, and government must serve the people.

Key ideas

Nature as preference (giho)
Virtue through practice
Admonitions on governing the people

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Influence

Influenced by 3

Confucius

influenced by
In his Old and New Commentaries on the Analects (Noneo gogeumju, 1813) Jeong Yak-yong read Confucius’ humaneness as realised in practice between persons, not as an inner principle. Jeong Yak-yong, Noneo gogeumju (1813); M. Setton, Chŏng Yagyong: Korea’s Challenge to Orthodox Neo-Confucianism (1997)
Evidence: AI draft
Confucius › traditionally 551–479 BCE
Mengzi (Mencius)

influenced by
Jeong Yak-yong read Mencius’ four sprouts as beginnings of virtues completed only in action, so that humaneness exists only after it is practised (Maengja youi, 1814). Jeong Yak-yong, Maengja youi (1814); M. Setton, Chŏng Yagyong: Korea’s Challenge to Orthodox Neo-Confucianism (1997)
Evidence: AI draft
Mengzi (Mencius) › c. 372–289 BCE
Yi Hwang

influenced by
Jeong Yak-yong read Yi Hwang’s letters as guides to self-examination and recorded his reflections as a private disciple of Toegye (Dosan sasungnok). Jeong Yak-yong, Dosan sasungnok, in Yeoyudang jeonseo; M. Setton, Chŏng Yagyong: Korea’s Challenge to Orthodox Neo-Confucianism (1997)
Evidence: AI draft
Yi Hwang › 1501–1570

Criticism

Criticizes 1

Zhu Xi

criticised
Jeong Yak-yong (Dasan) rejected Zhu Xi’s identification of human nature with principle, defining it as an inclination (giho) to delight in goodness, realised through practice. Jeong Yak-yong, Maengja youi; M. Setton, Chŏng Yagyong: Korea’s Challenge to Orthodox Neo-Confucianism, 1997
Evidence: AI draft
Zhu Xi › 1130–1200

Works

1818Admonitions on Governing the People (Mongmin simseo)
Written in exile: a detailed manual for local magistrates, insisting that officials exist for the people and not the people for them.

Position

Dasan reinterpreted the Confucian classics against Zhu Xi’s metaphysics. Human nature is not principle (li) but a disposition of preference (giho): we delight in the good and feel shame at evil, as we have a taste for food. Virtues such as humaneness are not innate substances but names for actions performed – only one who has actually served his parents can be called filial. Humans have free choice and stand under a watchful Lord on High (Sangje), an idea some scholars link to his reading of Catholic writings. Politically he demanded land reform and a government that exists for the people. He is regarded as the culmination of silhak.

Life & context

Jeong Yak-yong, known as Dasan, was born in 1762 near Seoul into a family of the Southerners faction. He passed the state examination in 1789 and served King Jeongjo, helping to plan the fortress of Hwaseong. Early contact with Catholic writings made him suspect: in the persecution of 1801 one brother was executed, and Dasan was exiled, mostly in Gangjin, until 1818. He died in 1836.