• Korean journal of communication and information
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• v.19
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• pp.37-63
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• 2002

The previous study has assumed that dialogue and debate could not have been activated by the hierachical Confucian norm and political authoritarianism in Korean society. Political democracy has developed in Korean society since 1987. But many observers have pointed out that the culture of debate still remained undeveloped in Korean society. This study assumes that the key factor of determining the quantity and frequency of debate is the polilitical factor such as authoritarianism, but the determining one of qualitative dimension such as debate competence derived from the epistemological tradition. In order to ascertian this hypothesis, this study explored the epistemological basis of Confucian thoughts in comparison with the classical Greek thoughts. In classical Greek society, philosophers considered that the purpose of debate is to find and to ascertain the truth. Bur Confucian scholors didn't look upon questioning the truth. Instead they considered practicing or doing of the truth worthful. Therefore, in a society which were much influenced by the Confucian thought, the culture of debate could not have been developed.