Korea is a country with a history of thousands of years, and is rich with cultural heritage. It has its own unique language and alphabet, history of thought, art, sciences, and customs, among which its language is the core element establishing the identity of Korean culture. As Korea had its own language, it could create its unique alphabet, learning, and art. However, considering that a given language is the expression of a distinctive history of thought, we should realize that the fundamental factor in the constitution of Korean culture is ‘Korean thought’It is in this context that the importance of Korean thought is emphasized.
Fundamentally, it is the amalgamation of foreign strains of thought into its indigenous thought, that is, occult shamanist beliefs. Concretely speaking, Korean thought, belonging to the cultural bloc of East Asia, assimilated advanced religions such as Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism from that bloc. Through the creative and critical assimilation of such religions, Korean thought gained not only its unique characteristics but also universal qualities it shared with other Eastern countries.
The reason why we regard Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism as advanced religions is that they are mainly based on rational thought, though they retain a few shamanist elements. It may generally be said that belief or faith based on dogma is a religion, but that the method and content induced by rational thought belong to the realm of philosophy. In this sense the traditional philosophy of Korea can be said to be the result of the synthesis, intensification, and modification of the
thought propagated by these religions, through the rational capacities of Korean scholars. This book is the compilation of the research work in, and interpretations of ‘the traditional philosophy of Korea’ that arose from this meeting of cultures.

Youn Sa-soon

Youn Sa-soon
Professor Emeritus
Dept. of Philosophy, Korea University
Member of the National Academy of Sciences,
Republic of Korea