박규수, 김윤식, 유길준의 실학정신과 한국사상사

Abstract

Although research on the history of modern Korean thought has become more based on empirical analysis than ideological interpretation, the perspective of constructing a genealogy of the history of thought centered on radical enlightenment ideas is still strong. The history of Korean modern thought is often described from the perspective of modernism, focusing on the radical enlightenment faction. With this method of description, it is difficult to properly understand the thoughts and actions of the moderate enlightenment faction. The idea of radical enlightenment was not a mainstream idea until the Gabo Reform. The method of constructing the history of modern Korean thought centered on the radical enlightenment ideas needs to be reconsidered. This article analyzes the manifestation of the spirit of Silhak by Park Gyu-su, Kim Yun-sik, and Yu Gil-jun revealed in the context of Western impact and the opening of Korea. They displayed the spirit of Silhak sensitively reading the gap between the illusion and the reality, and bridging the gap between modern phenomena and Confucian language in the transition of the Chinese world order to the sovereign state system. While showing realism and reformism in understanding the reality of the changing order, it also revealed the spirit of conservatism in preserving the political system. The realism and conservatism of the Confucian Silhak spirit was a response to the conditions of the times that called for the Western impact and the opening of Korea.