자유교과의 교육과정적 지위 = Conceptual Status of Liberal Studies in Curriculum

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Despite some predicaments which liberal education encountered in recent centuries, liberal studies has succeeded in maintaining its pivotal status in school curriculum. But this does not mean that liberal studies has been successfully justified with well-grounded discourses. Indeed, the status of liberal studies has been only provisionally stable, and the justification of liberal studies has been a everlasting concern in the field of curriculum studies. For our purpose of finding out a form of justification for liberal studies which are appropriate to the contemporary setting, it is very helpful to probe deep into the examplary conceptions of liberal studies: `schole`(Aristotle), `great works`(Hutchins), and `forms of knowledgs`(Hirst). Schole(leisure)and theoria(contemplation) as epistemological aspect of it are the most decisive criteria by which the Greek and medieval scholars distinguish liberal arts from servile works. Schole has consisted in part of the raison d`e^tre of liberal studies by virtue of Aristotle` works. However, the very concept of schole hangs on the notion of reality as transcendent being, which forbids thye approach of modern minds. Hutchins endeavored to restore the liberal studies which had been overwhelmed with Progressive Education. He reinterpreted the Greek and mediaeval ideal of liberal education to the contemporary democratic society. What he porposed as a result of embodying his idea of liberal studies was `Great Works`. But his proposal was little appealing to the public. Hutchins can not be said to do much for justification of liberal studies. For Hirst, liberal studies must consist of `forms of knowledge`. Because of the interrelation between the concept of rational justification and the pursuit of knowledge, the justification of `forms of knowledge` is the case in whcih the justification can be significantly asked only at the cost of self-contradiction. But Hirts`s transcendental argument can not provide a successful justification for liberal studies in that it destitutes of the ideals and the passions caused by it, which is necessary to move peoples` mind and heart. As a result of such review, we have reached a form of justification made applicable to the contemporary setting. Liberal studies can be successfully justified by taking `reality` as its ground. But it does not mean that we must retrogress toward Aristotle` conception of liberal studies. In this case, reality can be read as something like `public tradition`, meant by the activities of learning and teaching liberal studies, and construed as a common ground of mind and knowledge. Developing these findings into a theory of liberal education may be a promising task in the field of curriculum studies.