생사학의 학문적 성격에 관한 몇 가지 생각

Abstract

Life and death studies, which study the problems of life and death, are currently expanding to scholarship fields. Recently, due to the aging society, suicide problems, and social trauma, life and death studies are high prospects in our society. Therefore, in order to expand Korean Life and death studies, I would like to organize the discussions related to thanatology, life and death studies discussed so far and organize the academic possibilities and research areas. Research on death in the past has explained and understood death from the perspective of soul, immortality, and afterlife, focusing on the areas of philosophy and religion. However, as it moved to modern times, death began to be accepted as a more active analysis target in the scientific field. In fact, from the 1960s, thanatology began to establish itself as a science by introducing a systematic research methodology to study as an independent study, while acknowledging the existing forms of philosophy and religious research. In Korea, where the study of death is still in its early days, it is called thanatology, death and life studies, life and death studies, death studies and in interdisciplinary terms, it is used by mixing thanatology, death studies, life and death studies, and death education. However, life and death studies can be defined as the study of attitudes and behaviors related to human life and death based on thanatology. In a narrow sense, it can be defined as research and guidelines related to individual life and death, and in a broad sense, it is an interdisciplinary study that organically combines humanities, social sciences, and cultural arts based on achievements such as natural science. However, life and death studies, which have been conducted in Korea, are limited in exploring research subjects and methodologies based on the cultural characteristics of Koreans, and have not progressed to interdisciplinary and practical convergence research based on various academic exploration. The reason for this is First, the conceptual definition of life and death studies is at the rudimentary level, and it is at the level of introducing foreign “Tanatology” or “death & life studies”. Second, this is because there is a lack of research related to lifelife and death studies, and there is a lack of related joint research or exchanges between each discipline. Third, this is because the boundaries of the existing academic field are too high and there are many obstacles to establishing a standardized area or opening a subject related to life and death studies. Fourth, this is because the results of life and death studies research are not shared and used well, and the clear nature of the academic character of life and death studies has not been established. In order for life and death studies to secure its position as a discipline and establish its own identity, an academic system must be established and the components of the discipline, that is, the subject of study, scope of study, and research method, must be determined. It means that as an independent discipline, it is necessary to secure its own unique conceptual system and methodology. This means that life and death studies is a discipline with the scope of research, research methods, and academic normativity, experience, and prescription, and there should be no problem with the basic requirements of the discipline. The purpose of the study can be reviewed by normativity, the research method can be reviewed by experience, and the practicality of the study can be reviewed by prescription. It should also be faithful to the establishment of the academic foundation of life and death studies. In order to practice this, consensus is needed to discover and understand the pros and cons of academic approaches in various categories such as humanities, medical, social science, and cultural and artistic approaches. For example, medical approaches should be shared and empathized to inform the public of the effectiveness of life and death, humanities and cultural and artistic approaches to understand life and death, and social science approaches to establish a system through social and cultural phenomena. In addition, efforts are needed to share and spread the academic achievements of life and death studies. through networks of various academic societies and research institutes related to death to prevent the bias of life and death studies. In addition, it is necessary to create a momentum to newly establish one's view of life and death as an opportunity to wake up to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. In order to approach this specifically, various life and death education and grief counseling programs should be developed to deal with the topics of life and death from childhood to old age from the perspective of lifelong learning. In order to practice this, life and death education based on the view of life and death that creates values and meanings for life, life, and death in school education and lifelong education should be strengthened. Life and death studies is to preach the ultimate meaning of life through active reflection on death. Through this, it is thought that it will be a meaningful opportunity to establish Korean life and death studies and to establish the dignity of true life and death in a crisis.