An Investigation of the Identity of Character Through the Fundamental Cognitive Mechanism

Abstract

Character education in Korea has been strengthened since the Promulgation of the Character Education Promotion Act in 2015. But the concept of character itself is not clear and there is no consensus regarding it, causing confusion and certain side issues when it comes to character education. As part of resolving this essential problem of character education, this study looked at what character is from its cognitive origin, from which various human minds are formed. It also looked at the mechanism of how character emerges from the cognitive origin.The results showed that character, that is, human nature, is composed of two contradictory natures: a nature for ‘emptiness,’ which is a mind that one tries not to think and thus any cognitive structure (knowledge) does not appear internally, and a nature for ‘appearance,’ which is a mind that one try to think to form knowledge and thus knowledge appears internally. Furthermore, humans are born with natures of sensibility, memory, thinking and knowledge, and innate abilities such as sensory ability, thinking ability, and knowledge formation ability (intelligence) for the manifestation of appearance. Due to these natures and innate abilities, human beings form knowledge about the world and form various fields of mind based on this knowledge. Thus, we have the so called ‘virtues in character education.’Based on these results, this thesis discusses the debates related to character, such as nature, as well as the debate of good versus evil, and suggests the right direction and method of character education.