금대 이가환은 가학과 학파의 학문 성향에 영향을 받아 육경고학에 주의를 돌려, 고학적⋅박학적 학풍을 전개해 나갔다. 이러한 학풍은 성호학파 내에서 꽤 오랜 시간 연구하고 비판하면서 체화된 하나의 체계로서 금대에게 제공되었으며, 이를 기반으로 하여 서양의 과학 기술 및 종교에 보다 개방적이고 유연한 태도를 취할 수 있었다. 그의 지적 호기심은 유가의 기본 경전 뿐 아니라 역사, 제자백가, 불교, 도교, 의학, 군사 등 다양한 영역을 망라하는 것이었으며, 특히 명대의 고학적 성향으로 인해 산출된 저술들과 淸의 文物, 나아가 西洋의 學問에까지 열려 있었다. 그는 자연적 지식을 비롯한 제 학문 영역에서 博學을 추구하여 지식을 확장[博聞]하고 이를 발전시키는 것은 좋으나, 인간의 윤리규범에 있어서는 요약[約禮]해야 한다는 전형적인 유가 지식인의 면모를 보였다. 따라서 발전론적 시각에서 서양의 과학 기술을 높이 평가하고 이를 적극 수용하고자 하였으나, 서양 과학에 유기적으로 결합되어 정합적 체계를 이루고 있던 예수회의 천주학에는 회의적이었다. 그는 천주학과 서양의 과학 기술을 엄연히 분리해서 인식하고 있었으며, 리치의 보유론을 애초의 기획과는 다르게 뒤집어 독해하여, 리치의 ‘보유론’을 선진유학의 정신성⋅종교성에 서양의 기술을 ‘보’한다는 의미로 재해석했던 것이다. 전통적 유가의 修己治人의 구도로 보자면, 治人의 영역은 서양의 과학기술을 제왕학의 도구로서 수용하여 보완하고, 수기의 영역은 예수회가 원용하였던 선진유학의 ‘상제’ 개념을 부각시켜 이를 修身⋅事親⋅事天을 강화시키는 구도로 재배치한 것이다.
By analyzing the publications and activities of Geumdae Lee Gahwan (錦帶 李家煥), who left his mark in the history of ideology, politics, and literature during the late 18th century, and focusing on his tendency of Kohak(ancient learning) and acceptance of Seohak (Western learning), the present study aims to examine his epistemological foundation and the significance of his caution-the-world proposal to rescue the world to save people and awareness of problems in the history of ideology during the late Joseon period. Before he encountered Seohak books and Western tools in person, Geumdae was already affected more by the Seongho School’s academic orientation of Kohak. The foundation of Kohak was provided to Geumdae as an embodied system that had been researched and criticized within the Seongho School for a long time, and it allowed him to take a more open and flexible attitude towards the West’s science, technology, and religion. Geumdae’s intellectual curiosity covered not only basic classics in Confucianism but also other various fields including history, Hundred Schools of Thought, Buddhism, Taoism, medicine, and military. In particular, he was open to publications resulting from the tendency of Kohak in the Ming dynasty, products of civilization (文物) in the Qing (淸) dynasty, and academic learning (學問) in the West (西洋). He was a typical Confucian intellectual as he argued that while it is good to seek to learn various academic fields (博學) including natural knowledge, expand (博聞) and develop them, one should be mindful (約禮) of ethical norms. Hence, although he highly praised and actively accepted the West’s science and technology from the perspective of development, he was skeptical about the Jesuits’ Catholicism, which had established a system organically aligned with the West’s science. He perceived Catholicism and the West’s science and technology strictly apart from one another, flipped Ricci’s ‘Christianity complementary to Confucianism’ on its head, and reinterpreted that the West’s technology ‘complements’ primitive Confucianism’s spirituality and religious nature. In the framework of cultivating the self to govern people (修己治人) in traditional Confucianism, governing people (治人) is complemented by accepting the West’s science and technology as a tool in learning to become the ruler, and in cultivating the self, primitive Confucianism’s concept of ‘Shangdi,’ which was referenced by the Jesuits, is highlighted and realigned in a way that reinforces training oneself (修身), serving parents (事親), and serving Shangdi (事天). In other words, he separated Seohak, which was more advanced in science and technology, from religion, recognized it as a useful tool to complement Confucianism, and established a caution-the-world proposal to ‘rescue the world to save people.’