사례로 본 조선시대 평민유학

Abstract

This thesis proposes a new perspective on the aspects of Confucianism in the Joseon Dynasty. In fact, our view of Confucianism today remains in an extremely biased perspective. It is a carelessness that blindly equates the Confucianism of a small number of yangban who occupied the Joseon Dynasty with the Confucianism of the common people. The yangban and the commoners were clearly different in all areas, including political status, economic conditions, and social customs. Therefore, the cultures that these two classes accepted were also different in many conditions. For example, the yangban accepted the Confucian culture that was introduced starting from the Three Kingdoms period, while the commoners and below were more interested in traditional shamanism or Buddhism. However, the culture of difference that lasted for a thousand years also went through a process of integration into a single ideology called Confucianism starting from the Joseon Dynasty. However, it is important to note that the commoners’ culture centered on shamanism or Buddhism did not converge with the Confucian yangban Confucianism centered on Confucianism, but rather evolved while maintaining their own dual characteristics within the category of Confucianism. In other words, yangban Confucianism demanded order between generations or classes within a logical and theoretical framework, while commoner Confucianism selectively accepted the advantages of Confucianism according to practical and realistic needs. In this paper, this difference in the commoners’ attitude toward Confucianism is collectively called commoner Confucianism. Therefore, this paper discusses the historical background in which this type of culture with commoner Confucianism arose and what characteristics it has.