대한제국기 신지식인들의 탈유학적 양상들— 근대 잡지 기사를 중심으로 —

Abstract

New intellectuals during the Korean Empire, who were painfully aware of the prowess of Western imperialism and their country's inferiority, generally dreamed of following in the footsteps of Western modernization and building a civilized independent state. They tried to achieve enlightenment and self-renewal through new media such as newspapers and magazines. The new intellectuals, who recognized the crisis at the time as a limitation of the Neo-Confucian worldview, tried to overcome it by accepting the West. The scope of the new intellectuals' search for traditions expanded to include the Hundred schools even they were counted as the outside or enemies of Confucianism in the Joseon period. Of course the Hundred schools were the one of most important "Oriental Philosophy". Then, what was the attitude and use of the new intellectuals in the 20th century toward the Hundred schools when the "Oriental Tradition" was expanding? This paper analyzes articles focused on Guanzi(管子) and Mozi(墨子), especially in magazines published from 1896 when the modern magazine began to 1909, just before the media was suspended, centering on the modern magazine, which was one of the main discourse media of the new intellectuals at the time. The search for the Hundred schools had also been confirmed by Silhak(實學) scholars since the late 17th century in Joseon, and it seems clear that the search of new intellectuals were also within the trend from these aspects. In this context, this paper confirms how perceptions and attitudes had changed, centering on the traditional opponents of Confucianism, such as Guanzi and Mozi. As the practical goal of welfare(利用厚生) emerged as a more important criterion for determining the value of theory, the status of Neo-Confucianism, which mainly studied cosmology and personality theory, shifted from independence to 'an interpretation of communism' and to the object of criticism for causing ruin. At the same time, alternatives within the study abroad, such as Yangmyunghak(陽明學), attracted attention, and the view was also broadened to student white families such as temples and Mozi. Thus, in Yi Ki's "Yangmukbyeon(楊墨辯)", he lamented the oppression of Mozi and criticized the Mencius who caused such oppression.