고려대학교

초록/요약

This essay studies the writings on the Korean medieval history, and the criticism of the historical Materialism of Minse who followed the neo-nationalistic trend of history. During the colonial period he produced numerous works on the pre-historic period and the ancient period of Korea; on the contrary, only a few short writings on the medieval period such as the Joseon dynasty and the Goryeo dynasty. Minse inferred that the Korea was prosperous in the ancient period, but it gradually declined after the Unified Sinra period and eventually became a colony of Japan. His perception on the Korean medieval history shares similarity with the historical view of the Japanese colonialism, so Minse received criticism from the historians of the historical materialism. After the Liberation from the Japanese colonial rule, Minse stood up for his neo-nationalism and criticized the historical materialism against the socialist state-building theory. He left notes on the Marxist historians’ Class conflict theory, conception of state and society. In his note, Minse reasoned with the concrete cases from the Korean history and concluded that the Marxist theory could not be adapted into Korean society. His argument synthesizing classes in the name of a nation failed to advance as an actual study or an organized theory. Soon afterward Minse’s argument was succeeded and fulfilled by Son Jintae.