KOREAN CIVILIZATION RSH Comparative Civilization Series "Core Question:" "How was the Chinese cosmic order re-represented in Korea?"

This study aims to test the five-stage model of the Retrodiktive Structural Hermeneutics (RSH) framework (Absolute Center → Delegation of Authority → Functional Representation → Localization → Structural Inflation) on Korean civilization. The Korean case offers a critical comparative field for analysis, demonstrating how the "bureaucratic pluralization" model observed in China manifests in contexts where the centralized state tradition is either weak or differently shaped. The central question of this study is: How was the Chinese cosmic order reinterpreted in Korea through shamanic traditions, Buddhism, and Confucianism? This question seeks to test whether RSH can explain contextually adapted institutionalization patterns across different civilizations. The religious history of Korea can be read as a complex interaction of three main layers: the shamanic layer (Muism), the Buddhist layer, and the Confucian layer. These layers have coexisted in continuous synthesis at the level of popular religion. This study will systematically examine these four layers of Korean cosmology from an RSH perspective. This fourth volume of the RSH Comparative Civilization Series presents one of the most significant comparative tests of the series. Korean cosmology has contributed original concepts to the RSH model, such as "Normative Pluralization" and the "Dual Structure Thesis." Series NoteThis work is part of the RSH Comparative Civilizations Series, a collection of independent scholarly studies applying the Retrodictive Structural Hermeneutics (RSH) framework to the comparative structural analysis of major civilizations. Although the studies share a common methodological foundation, each paper constitutes a standalone research contribution with its own DOI and may be cited independently. Collectively, the series explores how different civilizations developed distinctive patterns of cosmological organization and structural transformation through a unified methodological framework.