위기지학과 공적 생태대학 이념에 기반한 대학 교육의 방향 전환

Abstract

This study proposes a philosophical approach to transforming university education by integrating the Confucian idea of learning for self-cultivation (moral self-formation through self-discipline) with Ronald Barnett’s concept of the publicly responsible and ecologically relational university. Addressing the ontological crisis in contemporary higher education, which has become focused on instrumental knowledge and market efficiency, the study redefines learning as an ethical and formative process that shapes both moral and intellectual character. The concept of learning for self-cultivation aligns with Aristotle’s virtue ethics, John Henry Newman’s theory of liberal education, and Barnett’s ecological vision of the university. Notably, Newman’s liberal education refers not to social privilege or institutional freedom, but to the inner freedom achieved through intellectual self-discipline. In the Korean context, liberal education should be understood as "education for cultivation" rather than "education for freedom," because Newman’s liberal ideal emphasizes intellectual and moral self-discipline over external liberty. Drawing on this theoretical perspective, the study argues that universities should reorient themselves as publicly responsible and ecologically relational institutions that integrate moral justification, public responsibility, and ontological interdependence. This transformation positions higher education not only as the production of knowledge, but also as a moral and relational activity rooted in self-cultivation and shared human–ecological coexistence.