舫山 許薰의 삶과 學問性向

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine the life and academic inclination of Huh Hoon(許薰), who was one of typical Confucian scholars in the Yeongnam(嶺南) region at the end of Daehan Empire. In his twenties, he gave up taking gwageo(科擧) examination and adhered to being a scholar out of government service until he died. Due to the influx of imperialist power waves of Japan and the West and the decree of the abolition of Confucian lecture halls, the basis of Confucianism was shaken to the root, but he did not rush into solving the problems in the real world. He tried to cope with the future of Confucianism by reading ancient sages’ writings and illuminating sound argument of tarnished moral philosophy. Because of this, the study that he aimed at was different from that of other scholars in the Yeongnam region. He critically reflected on the realities of academic circles which were preoccupied with academic tradition that inquired into Neo-Confucianism excessively and emotional conflicts and he chose Geunginamin(近畿南人) school that distanced itself from those other schools as his academic basis. By so doing, he tried to indirectly contribute to resolving the crisis by seeking new studies that could agree with the essence of Confucianism and correspond to the reality. However, the situations at home and abroad at the end of the 19th century were beyond the level to cope with the logic of Confucianism. So despite his lifelong efforts, he could not prevent the collapse of his family and the country, and this was the intellectuals’ limitations of the times.