INDIVIDUAL AND COMMUNITY: TOWARD A NEW ‘BRAVE NEW WORLD’

Main Article Content

Kyung Hee Lee

Abstract

Any consideration of Western culture includes an examination of Western modern thought. Contemporary Western thought is based upon not only scientific thought but also on an individualistic thought which renders the civil liberties of democratic society possible. However this highly developed science and technology, and the extreme claims of individual freedom have deteriorated into fetishism and selfishness and have become objects of severe criticism. Today, a regional or state selfishness occasionally conflicts with the entire human community so that some Eastern philosophers attempt to search for a solutions in the ancient Eastern thought which emphasizes relation and holism. But there have also been negative cases of totalitarianism, and the suppression of the freedom of the individual as is the case of Korea. Thus I would like to investigate the original meaning of individualism in Western modern thought and then find out how to harmonize Western ideas with Eastern ideas. Finally, I shall try to find a way of harmonizing individual and community for the coming global society, the new ‘brave new world’.

Article Details

Section
Articles
Author Biography

Kyung Hee Lee

Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea