*Preface: How Did the Modern Korean Emerge? 5

CHAPTER 1 The Evolution of the People and the Hangeul Discourse 19
Introduction 19
The People as Newborn Children 24
The ‘New People’ of the Enlightenment Period 36
The Evolution of the People: Three Mechanisms 45
The Formation of a Hangeul Discourse 59
Conclusion 71

CHAPTER 2 The Literate People and the Hangeul Social Imaginary 73
The Philosophy and Politics of Hunminjeongeum 73
The Formation of The Literate People 81
The Hangeul Social Imaginary 87

CHAPTER 3 The Joseon Governmental Structure and the Hangeul Discourse 107
The Tripartite Organization of the Governmental Structure 107
The Significance of the Hangeul Discourse 118

CHAPTER 4 The Differentiation of the Knowledge State and the Advent of Modernity: The Joseon Sattelzeit 131
The Sattelzeit 132
A New Age and the Notion of Heaven 138
The Separation of Mun 147
The Differentiation of Mun 158
The Emergence of the Literate People and the Individual 180

CHAPTER 5 The Mode of Transition to Modernity 195
The Origin of Modernity 195
The Dilemma of a Layered Collision 219
Joseon’s Mode of Transition to the Modern Era 225

CHAPTER 6 The Age of Designation: The State and Society 255
The Inception of the Intellectual Public Sphere 255
Nation-State Making 267
The Emergence of Society 288

CHAPTER 7 Obstructed Path: Citizens in a Cave 327
The Discovery of the Self 327
The Age of Consonance 338
Obstructed Path: Citizens in a Cave 365

*Reference 379
*Appendix 403
*About the Author 413