후기 정재학파의 유교개혁론 연구 - 海窓 宋基植의 『유교유신론』을 중심으로

Abstract

In terms of the intellectual history of the late Joseon period, the late Jeongjae School, which belongs to a group of followers whose teachers were followers of Jeongjae Yu Chi-myoung, plays a role of useful reference in considering Confucian ability to cope with reality when the west prevailed over the east. This is because the followers of the school showed the wide spectrum of thoughts transforming themselves from sincere Neo-Confucian scholars to Confucian reformist, and to socialists later responding to social demands. Song Gi-sik's Confucian reform theory represented by Yugyoyusinron (Confucian Theism) was on the line of the trend. His opinions about the Confucian reform were shaped into religionization of Confucianism, educational enlightenment through its religionization, and recovery of sovereign rights. The most outstanding characteristic in the process was that he attached importance to ‘Gyoung(敬)’ as a key practical way that enables the religionization of Confucianism. Valuing the ‘Gyoung’ was an indication of Youngnam Toegye School which always emphasized immanence and activity of Li(理) and stressed ‘Gyoung’ as a practical way of acquiring the Li. In this respect, Song Gi-sik's Confucian reform theory can be appraised as a test case where intellectual tendency of Youngnam Toegye School, which was said to imply elements of religious piety, searched for a possibility of religionizing Confucianism against foreign powers with Catholic at the head.