‘조선’ 국호로 본 여말선초의 역사인식과 이상국가론

Abstract

State titles tend to reflect the mindset of the state founders themselves, and their idea of an ‘ideal state’ as well, with that kind of idea (of how to bring such idealistic visions to reality) usually revealing their own cultural traits too. Examined in this study is how the people’s understanding of Neo-Confucianism -as well as how they viewed history- changed in the late Goryeo-early Joseon period, and how they viewed their own culture, with a focus upon the state title ‘Joseon.’BR Until now, the foundation of Joseon was considered as an event that symbolized a transfer from Buddhism to Confucianism, or a result of deepened understanding of Neo-Confucianism as well as more seasoned Neo-Confucian reform ideas. Recently, foundation of the Joseon dynasty has been analyzed from a somewhat different perspective, and this study too could be categorized as one of such examples as it tried to understand the foundation of the Joseon state in terms of the founders’ perception of the world (or outside order), and how that view was reflected in the title ‘Joseon’ itself.BR Traditionally we always perceived Dan’gun and Gija as the origins of Korean culture. Dan’gun symbolizes the Korean people’s historical and cultural individuality, while Gija exemplified the Korean people’s joining of the Sino-centric East Asian universal culture. The new state which replaced Goryeo settled on the title ‘Joseon,’ claiming itself as the successor of Gija. In that regard, one may say the title Joseon meant that the Joseon people’s objective and ideal for the new dynasty was to bring the Neo-Confucian idea of “the King’s way” to reality. Meanwhile, the Chinese Ming dynasty, just like its predecessor -the Mongol Yuan imperial government-, allowed Joseon’s own efforts of civilizing itself, and at that point the people’s sense of commemorating the legacy of Dan’gun had been growing strong for quite some time as well. In other words, Joseon was part of a Sino-centric order yet an individual entity that civilized itself, and continued to pursue East Asian universal qualities while retaining cultural individuality as well. Apparently this sort of duality was the result of the Joseon people’s effort to maintain a grand vision (bringing state ideals to reality), by employing realistic methods that were available to them.