우계 교육사상의 특징 - 인성교육학적 활용방안을 중심으로 - = The Characteristics of Seong Hon(Ugye)’s Educational Ideology - Focusing on Methods of Application for Character Education -

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

We often encounter social pathologies that reflect the loss of human dignity through the media. Such phenomena havetriggered a sense of social crisis regarding the lack of human characterin our societyand highlighted the importance of cultivating characterin school education. Education is, after all, a value-oriented activity that ultimately pursues desirable human developmentto raise persons of decent character. Therefore, this article will explore Seong Hon’s ideology of education and suggest possible methodologies that may integratethis into the educational system of the twenty-first (21st)century.
According to the ideology of Seong Hon, education means becoming sage or a virtuous person, as per the general characteristic of Confucian philosophy. Thus, his concept of education is no different from the purpose of the Character Education Promotion Act, which was enacted to help the development of the national society by fostering citizens of sound and upright character. This is because this law was intended to educate “courtesy, filial duty, honesty, responsibility, respect, consideration, communication, cooperation, etc.” to cultivate one's inner self correctly and soundly and to develop the human character and capacity necessary for living amongst others, the community, and nature.
These are none other than the virtues required for the moral maturity of one’s character, and Seong Hon regards a person of such moral character as the ideal person― the sage or virtuous person. To strive for achieving such a state is not only the purpose of but also the means of achieving this . The pursuit of achieving virtue, when seen in terms of character education, amounts to the establishment of human existence as a moral entity. Seong Hon valued the importance of moral practice more than any other Neo-Confucian scholar, and he taught that one should perceive of this by oneself, striving to realize the moral self by presenting lifelong learning tasks for becoming a sage or virtuous person. Seong Hon’s educational ideology can be said to hold great significance as to the direction Korea's character education should pursue.