Alfred North Whitehead and Yi Yulgok : Toward a Process-Confucian Spirituality in Korea

This book explores the Confucian-Christian dialogue in Korea through a comparative study of the cosmologies of Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947), the founder of process philosophy, and Yi Yulgok (1536-1584), the great scholar of Korean Neo-Confucianism.

Although their philosophical traditions are different, Yulgok and Whitehead's perspectives on the universe were very similar.

This study argues that Whitehead's theory of eternal object-actual entity has affinities with Yulgok's theory of principle-material force.

Their two theories, both based on reciprocal dialectical interrelationships, view the world as a cosmos characterized by the process of becoming.

Accordingly, Whitehead's panentheistic interpretation of the God-world relationship correlates with Yulgok's Neo-Confucian notion of how the Great Ultimate relates to material force.

These two concepts suggest a balanced structure of God and the world and offer insights into encouraging interreligious spirituality in Korea.