Abstract

The Neo-Confucian literati who emerged in Goryeo's later years adopted Neo-Confucianism as a new ideology of addressing tasks of the time in place of Buddhism. Dominant ideology's shift from Buddhism to Neo-Confucianism in the later years of Goryeo and the early years of the Joseon dynasty represented a major development in Korea's intellectual history, responding to a transformation in medieval Korea. Neo-Confucianism served as the dominant ideology throughout the Joseon dynasty. However, responses to various historical situations were quite different from one another, so Neo-Confucianism's role and relative importance were not the same throughout the 500-year history of the dynasty. Neo-Confucianism also played a prominent role in the development of Korean society until the latter half of the seventeenth century. However, when Korea began to change from an agriculture-oriented society into a commerce- and industry-oriented one thereafter, Neo-Confucianism failed to successfully cope with the resultant social changes, resulting in deepened socioeconomic contradictions. There arose a new school of Practical Learning in an attempt to resolve these contradictions.