초록 열기/닫기 버튼
Defining the Northern Learning discourse in late Joseon period as a set of policy agenda aiming at the advancement of technology and industry of the country, this paper examines the Northern Learning’s technology policy and its underlying socio-cultural assumptions. Previous research paid little attention to this issue, focusing largely on the socio-political thoughts of the Northern Learning. A few exceptional research on the technological thought of the Northern Learning undervalue it, on the grounds that the Northern Learning scholars failed to develop an highly abstract theory of technology. This negative evaluation, however, reflects the researchers’ failure to examine the rhetorical strategies taken by the Northern Learning scholars in formulating their policy agenda. This paper views the Northern Learning not only as a new sociocultural reform vision but also as a sign for the emergence of a new kind of elites who promoted the reform vision. The Northern Learning proponents positioned themselves as a new brand of elites to carry out the impending reform, and then suggested as the essential marks that differentiated themselves from the existing yangban elites their privileged travels to Beijing, the alleged center of civilization. As traveler-cum-reformers, they formulated their technology promotion policies, mainly as a set of inevitable lessons from their travel experience, rather than as an outcome of a theoretical research.
키워드열기/닫기 버튼
The Northern Learning, technology policy, Bak Jega, Jeong Yak-yong, Proposal for the Northern Learning (Bukhak ui 北學議)
