最近韓國儒敎硏究的現狀和展望 = Recent tendency and Prospect of Confucian Studies in Korea

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The modernization of Confucianism is the most active among fields of Confucian Studies in Korea. Modernization of Confucianism in Korea is distinctive from that of other countries in involvement of Confucian philosophers as well as social scientists. While Confucian philosophers attempt to reformulate Confucianism criticizing obsolete part of it and discover a post-modern answer in Confucianism , social scientists try to put fingers on Confucian factors of social development in East Asia and use Confucianism for establishing new paradigm of social science. In other words, Confucian philosophers focus on revitalizing Confucianism while social scientists pursue new social science. As on the part of Confucian scholars, knowledge of modem social sciences is insufficient; social scientists that do not have deep understanding of Confucianism often show lack of proper knowledge and even distort some Confucian doctrines. Yet interdisciplinary cooperation between Confucian philosophers and social scientists will remedy defects and flourish in the future. Toegye, Yulgok, Dasan, and Hyegang have been the favorite thinkers for researchers of Korean Confucianism, which continues for a while. Yet studies on newly discovered Confucian scholars will increase in near future. As studies on Confucianism of early Joseon era have accumulated, those of late Joseon can be augmenting in the future. Studies on Chinese philosophies will keep its pace, while comparative studies on Chinese philosophy can be increased because many scholars trained in western institutions is on the rise. Interests regarding Japanese philosophy, even slowly increasing, can be seen among scholars. East Asian perspective in Humanism, advocated by scholars mainly in Sungkyunkwan University, becomes active recent years. It insists pan-East Asian perspective overcoming national boundaries is needed for deeper understanding of East Asian culture. For Confucian studies, East Asian perspective not being reflected so far can be adopted for further studies. For example, comparative study on commentaries of Confucian classics looks prospective enhancing collaborations among international scholars.