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Society, Education, and Philosophy in Mid-Chosŏn. September 11, 2012. Review. Who were the yangban? What were “ secondary sons ” ? How were they treated? Who were the Chungin? What were the advantages of yangban status?. Chapter 24: Social issues. What were community compacts?
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Society, Education, and Philosophyin Mid-Chosŏn • September 11, 2012
Review • Who were the yangban? • What were“secondary sons”? How were they treated? • Who were the Chungin? • What were the advantages of yangban status?
Chapter 24: Social issues • What were community compacts? • Did they represent village democracy or were they a tool for yangban domination? • What sort of behavior did a community compact encourage? What sort of behavior did it punish?
Slavery • How important was slavery before 1800? • Why was Yu Hyŏngwŏn opposed to slavery? • Would you like to live in the sort of society Yi Chunghwan describes?
Secondary Sons • What arguments were brought forward to support discrimination against secondary sons? • What were Yu Suwŏn’s argument against such discrimination? • What reasons did Yi Sudŭk give for abolishing discrimination against secondary sons?
Inheritance Practices • What was the rationale for denying daughters the right to the same inheritance share their brothers received? • Is there any evidence that fathers loved their daughters less than they loved their sons? • Why didn’t daughters protest the discrimination against them?
Government corruption • Do you agree with Tasan’s explanations for why petty officials are corrupt? • Do you think his solution is a practical one?
Popular Unrest • Why do peasants rebel? • What role does religion play in popular rebellions? • Why did the northwest erupt in violent protest in the first part of the 19th century? (The Hong Kyŏngnae rebellion of 1811-12)
Education: Chapter 21 • The Schools for males: • Sŏdang--elementary schools for boys • Hyanggyo--official secondary schools • Sŏwŏn--private Confucian academies • Sŏnggyun’gwan--the national Confucian Academy. • No formal education for females.
Questions on education • How practical was the Neo-Confucian educational curriculum? • Was there universal elementary education? • What was the purpose of education for women? • What kind of person did Song Siyŏl think was the ideal woman? • Who was Lady Hyegyŏng? • How practical was the education Tasan wanted for his sons? • What do you think of Yi Tŏngmu’s advice for men? • How were Chosŏn women expected to behave?
Chapter 26: The philosophical foundation • Neo-Confucianism: the official ideology. • Affirmed the reality of the world of change in which we live. • A moral metaphysics--based on belief in normative patterns of change, patterns of change human beings should all conform to. • The world was made of li (i) and ki
Li and Ki • li is the cosmic network of patterns of appropriate interactions. • Ki is the matter-energy that li shapes into the specific configurations that interact. • There is no room for God in the Neo-Confucian universe. It has morality without religion. • Promotes ritual and social hierarchy.
More on Neo-Confucianism • It’s not only li and ki. • Human nature--the optimistic assumption of human perfectibility. Education is the means to reach moral perfection. • Ritual has moral and cosmic implications. It is so important the state has to claim ritual hegemony.
Impact of Neo-Confucianism • A strong bureaucracy, with restraints on the king • an underdeveloped commercial economy. • a weak military • lowered status for women • ritual hegemony exercised by the state • political disputes became moral disputes.