earticle

영어

This paper explores the life and thought of Yu Kiljun in the period of the 1870s and 1880s. It aims to illuminate on his unique take of enlightenment that tried to fuse the tradition, i.e. Confucianism, with modernity in its concrete development. He was 16 in 1870 and 35 in 1889, which means that the period of the 1870s and 1880s was formative years that his thoughts and world views were in the making and that he also began to see his learning turn into socially fruitful practices. During this period, he studied the essence of the Korean Zhuxi Studies, Korean Practical Philosophy of Sil-Hak and was initiated to the project of independent modernization and experienced modern civilization firsthand as a first Korean student in Japan and the US. Moreover he experienced his first political imprisonment during this period. During this imprisoned time, he synthesized what he had been learning into writings and official consulting documents. Diplomatic documents like "Chungnipron" (中立論: A Theory on Neutralization), governmental advice like "Tapchŏngsachohŏi" (答淸使照會: Answering the Inquiry of a Japanese Envoy), and the Korean modern classic, Sŏyukyŏnmun (西遊見聞: The Journey to the West) were all written during this period. In short, this paper closely examines his life and related development of his thoughts during this educationally and theoretically formative period of his life, during which he had sought for a way of independent modernization through the learning of tradition as well as through the acceptance of Western modernity that he experienced firsthand to make himself an important political agent in the political arena of the Kabo Reform in the 1890s.

한국어

이 글은 1870-80년대 유길준의 삶과 인식을 고찰하되, 특히 그의 개화사상의 특징인 전통 혹은 유교와 근대의 융합 노력의 구체적인 양상을 집중적으로 조명하는 것이 목적이다. 1870-80년대는 유길준에게 16세에서 35세에 해당하는 청년기로서 그의 사상과 세계관이 형성되는 입지(立志)의 시기이자 그간의 배움이 사회적 실천으로 열매를 맺기 시작하는 시기이다. 그는 이 시기 동안 조선주자학의 정수도 학습하고, 조선실학도 배웠으며, 자생적 근대화 시도도 전수받았고, 조선인 최초로 일본과 미국으로 유학 가 근대문명을 직접 체험하기도 하였을 뿐만 아니라 첫 번째 정치적 감금생활을 겪기도 하였다. 그리고 이 감금기 동안 사실 그간의 학습의 성과들을 저술과 자문으로 산출하기도 하였다. <중립론(中立論)> 등의 외교문건, <답청사조회(答淸使照會)> 등의 정부자문 문건, 대표적인 한국 근대 고전이 된 󰡔서유견문(西遊見聞)󰡕 등이 모두 이 시기 저작들이다. 이 논문에서는 이 저작들에 나타난 그의 유교 관련 인식의 구체적인 양태와 성격에 대해 고찰하였다.