公会主義 : その理念と運命(一)

Hong De Yong (洪大容1731〜1783) was an excellent encyclopedist and scientist who played an active part in the scientific history of Korea. According to his concept, the universe is infinite and boundless with countless stars filling it up. This is almost equal to J. Bruno\u27s concept of the universe. This article aims to introduce an outline of his theory of the infinite universe which is developed in his work called "Yi Shan Wen Da" (〓山問答), and to investigate its origin. My conclusions are as follows. 1. His theory is based on The Hsiian Yeh Teaching (宣夜説), which was one of the ancient Chinese cosmologies. 2. His theory destroyed the traditional theories such as the cosmic dual forces (陰陽説) and the five natural elements (五行説) by difining the relation between the sun and the earth