근대화과정의 ‘합리주의’ 이해에 대한 비교철학적 고찰 - 동아시아의 오리엔탈리즘적 관점 분석 -

Abstract

This paper is an thesis of reflecting on the issue of East Asian acceptance of ‘modernity.’ The basic critical attitudes of this paper are to criticize the acceptance of Huntington-style cultural essentialism which is influential in the current cultural discourse from the perspective of intercultural philosophy, and at the same time, to critically reflect on the tendency of 'Orientalism inside of us.' The recognition of otherness which becomes problematic inevitably in the process of cultural exchange is always accompanied by an issue of self-culture identity. The denial stage of self-culture when accepting advanced culture of others is always overlapped with the stage of stressing mental universalism of self-culture. The contemplation required here is future-oriented historical consciousness and universal open-mindedness. The category to be comparatively analyzed concretely in this paper is formalism inherent in rationalism. Modernity which was caused by modernization corresponds to rationality to borrow M. Weber's expression, and if we can summarize its characteristics as predictability, formalization and secularization tendencies, it is necessary to make a multiple comparative analysis associated Oriental traditional thoughts and their socialization phenomena in relation to such 'Western modernity. The relationship aims for pluralistic values with which Oriental and Western thoughts can communicate with each other rather than the confrontation based on cultural essentialism.