홍익인간과 국가이념

Abstract

National ideology is an idea that provides the basic principles of running a country. HongikIngan was the founding ideology of Gojoseon, the first nation on the Korean Peninsula. Afterwards, during the Three Kingdoms Period, Goryeo Dynasty, and Joseon Dynasty, Confucian political ideology was strengthened while being based on Buddhism. The Hongik Ingan ideology was applied as an ideology of the ancient nation, but was not considered at the level of a national ideology during the Three Kingdoms Period, Goryeo Dynasty, and Joseon Dynasty. In the 20th century, it was raised as the logic of national unity by nationalist scholars such as Jo So-ang, Ahn Jae-hong, and Jeong In-bo, and was defined as the ideology of the provisional government. Korea's national ideology was defined as democracy, republicanism, and liberalism, but was formalized by authoritarian political power. Korea's struggle for democratization normalized national ideology to a certain extent, but today it still experiences conflict due to confusion over national ideology. In addition, changes in national ideology are required due to external pressures such as globalization and new nationalism driven by neoliberal ideology. Meanwhile, in the case of Korea, various social problems such as the gap between rich and poor, labor-management conflict, environmental pollution, economic crisis, and lack of public services are occurring due to rapid industrialization, and a national ideology that can solve these problems is needed. Scholars who studied HongikIngan focused on the possibility of expanding ideology. Nationalist scholars who emphasized Hongik Ingan during the late Joseon Dynasty and Japanese colonial rule argued for new nationalism, new democracy, and Samgyunism of coexistence among all people. Since then, many scholars have presented various ideological elements about HongikIngan. First, the ‘human’ of HongikIngan is not an individual human, but a human world and a human community. Therefore, it becomes an ideology that benefits the entire human world. Second, it is interpreted as pursuing the welfare of life in human society based on humanism. Because it emphasizes equality and welfare, it can become the ideology of a Korean-style welfare state. Third, it emphasizes the ideology of governance through cooperation. According to Samgyunju's interpretation, it emphasizes the national idea of equity because it promotes equality and equality, and at the same time, it advocates equity between countries in the international community, opening up the possibility of ideological expansion such as world peace and world welfare based on the world community. Fourth, HongikIngan is an ideology that emphasizes awareness of the environment. If HongikIngan's ‘human’ is interpreted as the human world, it can provide an ideology suitable for environmentalism that emphasizes harmony and stability in the human world.