1950년대 지식인의 자유주의 담론 연구 - 사상계를 중심으로

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to identify how political liberalism discourse of Korea was formed in the 1950s through Sasanggye, a representative educational magazine at that time, and to clarify the meaning of established political liberalism. Political liberalism in the 1950s has much to do with institutional and political aspects rather than theoretical ones. In the mid 1950s, while moral freedom, socialism, and political liberalism were competed against each other, liberalism discourse was formed. Among them, moral freedom theory, which is connected with humanism was preferred most. Lee Seung Man’s dictatorship in the late 1950s created democratic aspirations of all people, leading to decline in moral liberalism. But political liberalism gained more strength. That means political and moral areas are separated. As political liberalism discourse gained strength, a concept of ‘rights’ to freedom was developed. That was the foundation for awareness of ‘civil rights’. In another words, the freedom of the individual was regarded as civil rights of a democratic world. In the late 1950s, as political liberalism was established, democracy was considered ‘popular sovereignty’ rather than a concept opposed to socialism or dictatorship, meaning that democracy was understood from the perspective of realistic politics, rather than as universal or abstract value.