李贄與許筠的女性觀

View point on women of Li Zhi and Heo Gyun

傳統社會女性的地位甚低，而且從本質上歧視女性，以為不堪學道，因此女性的角色僅限於賢妻良母。李贄與許筠都是萬曆年間且在思想史上被視為異端的人物，雖然一是明朝，另一是朝鮮，但他們均因具有反傳統思想而被社會排斥，其中對女性的觀點更是與眾不同。李贄與許筠都注重男女之「情」，強調男女之間自然所生的情愛。然而李贄所主張的男女之「情」止於觀念上的言詞，許筠之「情」則全不避諱身體情欲，且言行合一，以自然真情為立身之準則。兩人十分肯定女性之才識，故以獨創的眼光來認定女性的真價值，不管是身分高下、貴賤，不因性別差異而有差別。兩人的女性觀雖然不能完全脫離傳統的樊籬，但可說是傳統趨向近代啟蒙思的重要橋樑。

In traditional society, women's status is low. With a strong discrimination against women, their role is strictly limited as housewives and mothers.Despite the fact that Li Zhi was born in China and Heo Gyun was born in Chosun during Wan-li of the Ming Dynasty, they both had thoughts that were considered as heterodoxy in history of ideas. For example, they had anti-traditional concepts that were most likely to be excluded from the society. Particularly, their views of women were different from most of the other people around that time.Both Heo Gyun and Li Zhi focused on ”affection” and on love-which naturally occurred-between men and women. Li Zhi, however, only limited himself to the concept of emotional claims on the words. On the other hand, when Heo Gyun stated about ”affection”, he did not evade the issue of lust; he united his actions and words to practice what he believed was right. This way, Heo Gyun completely broke the Confucian ethic's point of view, but regarded the truth of nature as the criteria for life.Unique among the society long time ago, Heo Gyun and Li Zhi believed that identifying women's true value was very crucial; they consistently thought that women's abilities and insights should be recognized at a greater extent. In fact, they also claimed that men and women are no different in terms of lust and talent.Their point of view for women, although was not able to revolutionize the ideas and beliefs back then, can still be recognized as an important bridge between the traditional beliefs and the modern enlightenment.