오촌 설태희의 실용주의와 양명학

Abstract

Seol Tae-hee was a philosopher of Confucian study and education, and a social activist who led social movements through press and guild activities. While working for the Association for Promotion of Korean Goods, he argued for the reconstruction of Korean society on the basis of traditional Confucianism unlike the others who stressed strengthening of the nation through self-development. Seol Tae-hee’s idea of social movement and practicalism stemmed from his original thinking in which Yangming-studies and Chathamology were combined. He argued that the original spirit of Confucianism lied in the practicalism for social changes, supporting Yangming-studies’s theory of Jihaenhabilon while criticizing the metaphysics of Neo-Confucianism. In doing so, he inherited the Chathamological view of the relation between reason and spirit which held that the reason cannot exist by itself whereas the spirit can. While agreeing with the ideology of Socialism in opposing private ownership of lands, Seol Tae-hee was also against violence and blind following of the ideology resulting in the loss of independence. Instead he argued that the construction of society with liberty and equality that ensures the national survival in independence under the monarchy based on Confucianism was possible.