Korean Confucianism and Women’s Subjectivity in the Twenty-first Century

This article is to explore ways to revitalize Confucian ideals and values in order to provide the Confucian tradition as a source of inspiration in developing women’s subjectivity in the 21st century. It is also to examine what implications Confucianism has for human lives in the twenty-first century, considering the current situation in which neo-liberal utilitarianism and competitionism sweep through the world and public spheres are collapsing. It first pays attention to the current phenomenon of Hallyu (Korean Wave, or the craze for Korean pop culture) in the world, and asks what characters of Korean culture draw such an universal response from people of the world. This article finds an answer in Korean women’s saeng-mul(生物life-giving and caring) spirituality which has been nurtured in the long process of their households-making experiences in the Confucian tradition. Their virtues can be summarized into the practice of “giving up one’s own way to follow that of others” and “seeking humanity and accomplishing sagehood”. This article recognizes that these virtues aren’t simply non-subjective, rather as the essence of Confucian spirituality or religiosity they have a good meaning in our postmodern world as an alternative postmodern spirituality which is “least religious and yet richly spiritual”. As a very action of subjectivity it suggests a good possibility today to heal the decline of public spheres that seems a result of an excessive applying of the modern principle of subjectivity.