한말 일본 유학 지식인의 ‘근대 사회과학’ 수용과정과 특징 ― ‘정치’에 대한 인식과 ‘입헌정치론’을 중심으로 ―

Abstract

The Korean students that studied in Japan during the Late Chosun Dynasty are viewed as a group that exercised the most extensive influence in spreading modern ideas and knowledge of the West to Korean society, based on the Western studies they personally acquired in the ‘civilized country’ of Japan. In particular, students studying in Japan believed that in order to reclaim national sovereignty and establish a civilized country, it was crucial to transform the state system. As a result, these students began to passionately spread important ‘social sciences’ of the West. However, as is often the case with the process of accepting ideas, it was impossible to understand ‘social sciences’ simply through the learning and transfer of a new field of study. Although students studying in Japan acknowledged the constitutional government system, a political structure that guarantees the participation of a majority, the core significance of the system was believed to be in the development of a civilized, powerful nation through the integration of the military, the government officials, and the people. As politics is fundamentally an act of the state, the political participation or exclusion of the people is not essential per se. These matters can be adjusted in relation to the efficiency of ruling and successful results. Thus, the extensive preference for constitutional politics did not contradict the passive awareness of popular sovereignty. The political participation of the public was simply excluded within the general framework of ruling to achieve a more important purpose, the boost of patriotic spirit. This in turn displays the contradictory yet consistent thinking of the overseas students in the Late Chosun Dynasty, who accepted Western politics within the basic thinking structure of viewing politics as a process of enlightenment and ruling.