李瀷의 筆法論과 역사인식

Yi Ik's idea on bao-bian and history

For the comprehension to Yi Ik's idea on history, this note starts with his approach to the classical historiography in Confucianism(『The Book of Spring and Autumn』 of Confucious and 『Kangmu』 of Zhu Xi). His idea of history was influenced by those books. So he applied their manner of historiographical writing(bao-bian, 褒貶) in his works. He regarded the introductory of 『Kangmu』 as a golden rule of historian. His idea on legitimacy of dynasties also follows the introductory of 『Kangmu』 and 『Xukangmu』 written in the dynasty Ming. It made him look the international situation as it was. His idea was a result of his personal background. For him, his father, exiled to nothern territory of korean penisula and died there, and his brother, killed after the brutal torture, were victims of the immoral situations. Yi Ik evaluated that they had been right in their political behavior. So he concentrated himself in the problem between justice and injustice in his study of history. Contrary to studies so far, he blamed those who had won in history because they had acted immorally, and praised many losers who had acted with justice and moral. The core of historiographical writing is the moral value in his idea.