정약용과 홉스의 정치철학 비교 고찰 = A Comparative Study of the Political Philosophy of Jeong Yak-yong and Thomas Hobbes

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This article aims primarily to clarify the intellectual-historical significance of Dasan Jeong Yak-yong’s political theory within the horizon of world philosophy through a comparison with the political philosophy of Thomas Hobbes. In addition, through this comparison, it seeks to present a unified perspective that challenges conflicting evaluations of the periodization of Dasan’s political thought.
Both Dasan and Hobbes begin with an account of the state of nature, argue for the bottom-up formation of political authority, and at the same time advocate strong political power. Just as Hobbes’s bottom-up theory of political authority provided an intellectual foundation for modern democracy, Dasan’s bottom-up principle has likewise been evaluated as an ideological precursor to democratic thought. Focusing on this similarity, this paper analyzes the intellectual-historical implications of Dasan’s political philosophy. It also highlights the fact that Hobbes’s bottom-up principle and the absolute sovereign embodied in the Leviathan coexist without contradiction as the ideological foundation of democracy, and on this basis offers a unified interpretation of Dasan’s early and later thought through comparison with Hobbes.
Despite these similarities, important differences remain in their respective political philosophies. While Hobbes’s thought developed within the context of Western modernity, Dasan’s political philosophy is grounded in Confucian ideas of moral governance and governance for the people. Reexamining the democratic implications of Dasan’s political philosophy from the perspective of its inheritance and development of Confucian political thought thus carries significant scholarly value.