어린 왕자 속 생활세계를 통해 본 아동의 현상학적 이해

Phenomenological Understanding of Children from the Life-World of The Little Prince

The aim of this study is to examine the phenomenological speculation on The Little Prince of Saint-Exupéry in order to understand characteristics of children and to figure out educational implications.For this purpose, the study examined the relation between the literary work and phenomenology, and then, examined the Life-World of The Little Prince from the perspective of phenomenology. On this basis, the study attempted to figure out characteristics of children. As the literary work is an expression imagined world of the author on the basis of the reality, characteristics of children understood through the Life-World in the literary work can show both specialty of The Little Prince and universality in the real world. The Life-World in The Little Prince is a world of intuition, expansion, encounter and re-awareness. In this Life-World, children show themselves as being of intuitive understanding, of exploration, of relation orientation and existential growth. In conclusion, the study indicates that children experience existential growth as being of encounter, and such existential growth is presupposed of autonomy and reliability inside children. And, this study indicates that children are educational being seeking learning and teaching, and also requires adults who prepare proper growth for them.