This paper examines the modern predicament faced by Korean Confucianism by analyzing discourses found in Korean magazines published in the early 20th century. First, it explores how Confucianism, under the emergence of a modern educational system, became a subject of historical inquiry as a disciplinary object and was simultaneously restructured as “philosophy,” particularly under the name of Eastern philosophy. Second, it investigates the ambivalent role of Confucianism in the process of imagining a modern nation-state?being both a target of criticism and a repository of traditional cultural resources. Third, it analyzes how academic discourses surrounding the Neo-Confucian thinker Yi Hwang (Toegye) were developed in Meiji-era Japan and subsequently transmitted to Korea, revealing the influence of Japanese academism on Korean intellectuals. Through this multi-layered analysis, the study aims to clarify the characteristics of the historical and intellectual challenges that Korean Confucianism encountered in its confrontation with modernity.
Yang Ilmo (2025) studied this question.