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Communication Dans Un Congrès Année : 2017

Return to Effectivity or Rediscovery of Native Tradition after Foreign Knowledge : the Case of Pang Hapsin 方合信 (active in 1910s)

Résumé

This paper has triple purpose: the first is to present a case in which, not totally but partially, a native tradition was retrieved in the context of adoption and application of a foreign tradition, and the second, to pay attention to the way in which the native tradition was transmitted. At the same time, through this case, the presentation also intends to evoke a classic feature, that basic logic in science still constitutes valid and pertinent factors, as well as contextual — ideological, social, cultural or geographical — ones, to explain an evolution of scientific knowledge. In the Early 20th century Korea, the East Asian traditional pharmaceutics — ponch’o 本草 — was appreciated again for reason of its effectiveness by a Korean doctor, trained in Western modern medical education. After having experienced limits of Western modern medical science, in particular because of the gap between fundamental medical theories and clinics, Pang Hapsin turned towards Korean (or East Asian) tradition. Through his clinical experience for several years, he came to understand that there were very few diseases for which Western medicine (of 1920s) really knew the cause and appropriate treatment and that for the rest it counted on folk remedies. He had thus a scientific motive for revisiting native tradition. This case illustrates in its own way a complexity that the encounter of a native tradition with a foreign one can weave. In addition to the information we can have about his knowledge, practices and questions in these two medical traditions from different origins, we find out here several interesting points in terms of cultural history. At first, in synchronic perspective, his case shows some characteristics compared to other currents of the time. The major currents were those of reception and dissemination of the Western sciences, on ideological level as well as on practical level, under the pressure of Japanese colonial policy. Meanwhile, some scholars and intellectuals who were educated in Western system sought to compromise two different traditions or to restore the native one and make the best use of it. Pang was part of this last group. However, he stood out more from this group in that he re-appropriated the native tradition to overcome weakness not only of native one but also of the Western medicine. Furthermore, an aspect concerning his access to the East Asian medicine is intriguing itself as such and opens us a diachronic perspective. Actually, Pang learned East Asian medicine through a Japanese book. Questions can follow: Why a Japanese book? why not Korean one? Was it due to the Korean colonial situation? His knowledge and understanding about East Asian medicine were, therefore, shaped under the influence of the Kohōha 古方派 (ex. Yoshimasu Tōdō 吉益東洞 (1702-1773) ) which, since the Late 16th century, had criticized the theoretical and speculative medicine from the medieval period of China and restored more ancient medicine retaining concrete and empirical approaches. This Japanese school was, in a broad sense, one of the revivalist movement of the Shang-han lun 傷寒論 legacy who had appeared from the Late Ming dynasty in China. This revivalism of ancient medicine in China had also found an echo in the spirit of some Confucian literati versed in the medicine in Chosŏn Korea. Some of them were in the so-called Sŏngho school 星湖學派 from the 18th century. Was this school handed down to the Early 20th century? This intellectual transmission through East Asian international network finally invites us to several questions about the transmission of that Sŏngho school and of the Korean traditional medicine in the 19th century Korea, topics which I will leave open for my future research. During Japanese occupation, Koreans’ efforts to revive East Asian medical tradition continued in various walks of life, through diverse activities: social activities, publication of books, doctors’ association, etc. People called ‘scholar-doctors’ (yuŭi 儒醫) educated in Confucian tradition published studies focussing on Korean pivotal works in this field, various theories and practices, eclectic efforts between Western and East Asian medicines. However, apparently except Sŏngho school mentioned above, Korean scholars’ interest in Shang-han lun legacy didn’t constitute a tradition as strong as in China and Japan until the Early 20th century. Seemingly not enough for Pang to find it near at hand.
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Dates et versions

hal-04095527 , version 1 (16-05-2023)

Identifiants

  • HAL Id : hal-04095527 , version 1

Citer

Daeyeol Kim. Return to Effectivity or Rediscovery of Native Tradition after Foreign Knowledge : the Case of Pang Hapsin 方合信 (active in 1910s). Association for Korean Studies in Europe Conference, AKSE, Apr 2017, Prague (CZ), Czech Republic. ⟨hal-04095527⟩
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