earticle

한국어

The purpose of this study is to restore the undervalued status of the ‘Yinyangwuxing(陰陽五行) theory’ by correcting the history of its origins and development, which was distorted by Liang Qichao (梁啓超)’s 1923 paper "History of the Yinyangwuxing Theory". In his treatise, Liang Qichao declares the Yinyangwuxing theory as a "2,000-year-old den of superstition" that needs to be overcome. As a result of these influences, the perception of the Yinyangwuxing theory as a superstition has been perpetuated, the origins of the theory have been set in the Zhanguo(戰國) period, making it impossible to construct a long-term history of its origins and development, and scholars have been unable to focus on uncovering the philosophy of ancient East Asian naturalism inherent in the Yinyangwuxing theory. In response to these problems, I propose that Liang Qichao's 1923 criticism of the Yinyangwuxing theory was excessive, and that Liang Qichao's criticism can be interpreted as a separation of the Yinyangwuxing theory from Confucianism, and that we can now redefine the origins and history of the theory from the perspective of the Yinyangjia(陰陽家). Yinyangwuxing theory can then be defined as a traditional East Asian thought and ancient naturalistic philosophy that was perfected in the Han(漢) dynasty after more than 1,200 years of development.