개념의 수행성으로 본 근대 지식체계의 굴절 Ⲻ 도학, 실학, 철학을 중심으로 Ⲻ

Abstract

Dohak used to be an important yardstick in determining academic legitimacy and praising or criticizing people, but it gradually came to represent outdated ideas and stubborn scholars who held onto old ways. 'Dohak scholars' who had referred to those intellectuals who studied moral values of Confucianism and practiced them was now degraded to a derogatory expression pointing to those old-fashioned people who failed to keep pace with changes of the times as they were apathetic to new learning and ideologies in favor of moral goodness in a selfish manner. On the other hand, Silhak which used to mean Confucianism criticizing emptiness and non-secularity of Buddhism and Taoism, saw its meaning changed to the one referring to the Western civilization and scientific technologies. As a way to respond to shocks from the Western civilization, some incomplete combinations of the two cultures, East and West, were attempted such as Chinese culture as central and Western culture as useful or Eastern morals and Western technologies. But Silhak came to serve as a catalyst to accept new learning. What lessons could we learn from the two different paths Dohak an Silhak took at the dawn of the modern era? Just about a hundred years ago amid epistemological rupture and shift occurring, scholars who studied traditional philosophies crying for 'no morals, no state' vanished into obscurity and were forgotten without leaving an echo of their voice behind. In reality where economic strength equals national power and also works as a measure to judge a person, a 'rogue country' that should be denounced is often envied by other countries. There is nothing wrong about pursuing practicality and usefulness, but the reality where practicality trumps humanity and is treated as the ultimate goal in life should be stemmed. In this modern world, evolutionism and survival of the fittest are being taken for granted, leading to a situation that if you win the competition, you can take happiness away from the social disadvantaged and minority to reap all the benefits, and this kind of competition first theory is being recreated over and over again. We should carefully watch if balance can be struck to make sure that human accomplishments achieved in the modern age will not be wiped out. This is why we need to examine how traditional thinking has been dismantled and the concepts have been modified as much as we do for movements of new concepts flowed in from the West and the resulting social and structural changes brought about by the new concepts.