ABSTRACT
It is essential that Korean scholars develop new theories and methods useful for democratizing Korean society, as well as for promoting science and technology. In the Republic of Korea, certain university reforms have already been attempted under the national leadership of the central government. Some scholars of higher education have conducted research on university reform with a view to making recommendations useful for reforming university scholarship. Regrettably, however, these scholars were mainly interested in rationalizing the ruling ideologies of successive dictatorial governments, as well as in encouraging industry-related research in universities, sponsored by big industrial firms, for material gain. They overlooked the principles of “seclusion and freedom” (Einsamkeit und Freiheit) advocated by Wilhelm von Humboldt. As Humboldt argued, the university must be secluded from society, and must be a place where freedoms of research, teaching, and learning are guaranteed, so that university scholars may search for academic truth (Schelsky, 1971:7–74). University professors of South Korea, in general, have been indifferent to the reforms of scholarship advocated by the Sirhak scholars of the Yi dynasty. Surprisingly, they have not attempted to learn from this great tradition of scholarship that may be seen as liberal and progressive, even in the present age. It is a pity that many of our university professors seem to lack the spirit of truth seeking and a commitment to democratic reform and thus tend to neglect this valuable historical scholarship produced on our native soil.
