Abstract

Choe Hangi, a 19th-century Korean scholar, established an original field of scholarship called gihak, or qi-study which goes beyond the boundaries of the Confucian and Neo-Confucian intellectual foundation of that time. In his study, he used as important intellectual resources Western Learning taken from books translated into Chinese by European missionaries who aimed to propagate Christianity in China. The Western scientific knowledge in those books led him to develop a unique paradigm of thought. This paper focuses on the purpose and effect of his adoption of Western scientific knowledge, rather than his perspective or the particulars of the Western science introduced to his study. The proposition that his gihak should be defined as a meta-discourse and universal science is instrumental in order to expound the implications and purpose of his adoption of Western knowledge. This notion will frame Western science as the sub-disciplinary scholarship constituting the details of the universal framework presented in his gihak. Choe perceives the movement and action of qi as the essence of the world. With an eye towards establishing gihak as a universal science, he used his knowledge of Western learning to prove that the movement and action of qi can be used to interpret the nature and purpose of universe and all living things including humans. This paper will explain the characteristics of gihak as universal science, examine the three layers of scope in his study, and a shift in human understanding. Through this, his intention to address the problems of the time, communicate with the world, and pursue peace through the fusion of Eastern and Western knowledge will be demonstrated.