• Date: September 1st, Thursday, 2022 16:00 – 18:00
• Location: Room 406, SNUAC (Bldg. 101)

Moderator: Haenam Park (SNUAC)
Presenter: Ilkyun Jeong (Dept. of Sociology)
Discussants: Ho Kim (SNUAC), Bongkyu Lee (Inha Univ.)

Studies on Dasan (茶山) Jeong Yak-yong’s Understanding of the Four Books (四書)

Going beyond the existing studies on Dasan that had focused on specifics from an essentialist view, these books were written with the aim of exploring methodological insight requested for today’s task, especially that of overcoming the paradox of West-centered modernity and enlightenment as Westernization. The author considers most existing studies on Silhak to be based on an obsession with the so-called rush-to-modernization, which sets the West as some kind of a target and seeks to catch up as fast as possible.  He thus believes that they are not free from the binary of tradition and modernity or Western-oriented thinking. The author attempts to read Dasan’s works based on a new analytical imagination that goes beyond the old perspective and seeks to open new horizons of Dasan studies that today’s era calls for.