해방 직후 남한 엘리트의 이성 담론, 규율 주체 생산과 헤게모니 구축 = The South Korean Elite`s Discourse on Reason -Establishing Postcolonial Hegemony-

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The liberation of Korea from Japanese colonial rule, in 1945, constituted a pivotal historical moment. The beginning of the Korean postcolonial era also coincided with a significant change in the attitude of contemporary Koreans toward Western-oriented modernity. This article therefore intends to appraise South Koreans` understanding of modernity by examining the prevailing discourse on reason at that time. This discourse was designed to transform contemporary South Koreans into a nation, and the kungmin (people) into subjects to build and run a postcolonial democratic nationstate. The discourse on reason formed a cultural resource which, by producing an academic and philosophical context for the post-War era of democracy, was used to legitimize the rule of the South Korean elite, allowing them to dominate the South Korean masses. At the same time, this discourse had the potential to serve another function: by emphasizing the universality of reason, South Koreans were induced to embrace its supposed global representative, the U.S., which permitted the construction of the American hegemony over South Korea in the post-War era.