이 글의 목적은 학회가 공공성과 학문성의 결합의 장의 역할을 어떤 방식으로 해왔는지를 비판적으로 성찰하는 것이다. 이 글은 학회를 학문성과 공공성의 결합의 지평 혹은 공간이라는 의미에서 일종의 학문적 공공 영역이라는 점을 전제로 한다. 이런 전제에서 출발하여 사철연의 사례를 통해 1990년대 이후 한국의 학문적 공공 영역의 활성화와 다양화의 경향을 분석하고, 그에 대해 비판적으로 성찰해보고자 한다. 사철연은 1990년대 이후 소연방의 해체와 더불어 진보 이념으로서의 마르크스-레닌주의의 실패가 현실적으로 확인된 이후 마르크스주의의 위기를 극복하려는 시도에서 하버마스주의자들이 주축이 되어 형성된 학회다. 사철연의 활동이 지니는 의미에 대한 비판적 접근은 여러 가지 점에서 중요하다. 우선 이 작업은 1990년대 이후 한국 (사회)철학의 다양한 흐름들을 전체적으로 조망하는 데에서 필수적이다. 둘째로 이 작업은 8, 90년대 이후 한국 사상사를 총체적으로 파악하는 데에도 토대 구실을 할 것이다. 이 글은 한국 현대의 (사회)철학의 역사뿐 아니라 한국 지성사의 종합적이고 체계적인 연구의 틈을 메우려는 의도 역시 갖고 있다.

The goal of this article is to assess the role of an academic society as a combined field of the academia and the public. On the premise that an academic society is a sort of scholarly public sphere, I tried to analyse critically the trend of invigoration and diversification of academic public sphere which has appeared since the 1990s in South-Korea, by focusing especially on the ‘Korean Society for Social Philosophy’ as an example. ‘Korean Society for Social Philosophy’ is an academic society which was formed by young philosophers in 1993. Most of these young philosophers majored in Habermas and modern Germany philosophy. ‘Korean Society for Social Philosophy’ was made for the purpose of overcoming the crisis of Marxism after the collapse of former Soviet-bloc. The critical approach to the meanings of this society is very important. First, it is necessary for the overall research on the history of Korean philosophy since 1990s. Second, this study serves as a basic research on further systematic and comprehensive studies of South Korea’s history of human sciences of 1980s and 1990s. Finally, this study contributes to fill the gap of established research results about modern intellectual history of South Korea.

The goal of this article is to assess the role of an academic society as a combined field of the academia and the public. On the premise that an academic society is a sort of scholarly public sphere, I tried to analyse critically the trend of invigoration and diversification of academic public sphere which has appeared since the 1990s in South-Korea, by focusing especially on the ‘Korean Society for Social Philosophy’ as an example. ‘Korean Society for Social Philosophy’ is an academic society which was formed by young philosophers in 1993. Most of these young philosophers majored in Habermas and modern Germany philosophy. ‘Korean Society for Social Philosophy’ was made for the purpose of overcoming the crisis of Marxism after the collapse of former Soviet-bloc. The critical approach to the meanings of this society is very important. First, it is necessary for the overall research on the history of Korean philosophy since 1990s. Second, this study serves as a basic research on further systematic and comprehensive studies of South Korea’s history of human sciences of 1980s and 1990s. Finally, this study contributes to fill the gap of established research results about modern intellectual history of South Korea.

Korean Society for Social Philosophy, Scientificality, Publicness, Academic Society, Marxism, Habermas