Reanalysis on the nature of patriotism and Filial Piety of Admiral Yi Sun-shin

Abstract

There are many studies on Admiral Yi Sun-shin because of his achievement to save the nation against the Japanese Invasion sacrificing his life at the time of discontent and unjust. At the same time, he was the only one who never lost any single battle he engaged in the world. Korean people who experienced many crises throughout the history, it is no doubt that Admiral Yi Sun-shin became the divine national hero. Because of this reason, various studies on Admiral Yi Sun-shin continue. In the field of education, it is one of the popular subjects especially in the personality education for the youths. However, there are many limitations for the study of Admiral Yi Sun-shin. First of all, he is not just a historical hero, but a divine hero of Korea. Because of that, it is not easy to analyze him in a manner of objectivity. At the same time, there are only his War Diary for understanding him as a human. Regardless the limitations, the study on Admiral Yi Sun-shin must be continued. There are possibilities for making his outstanding values into the contemporary world. First of all, his values of patriotism and filial piety must be reevaluated in the frame of a universal and global scale. Admiral Yi Sun-shin's values of patriotism and filial piety are not in the flame of tradition Confucianism, rather, they are fundamentally based on the love and compassion for human being in general. This universal quality of his values must be emphasized. Also, rather than emphasizing him as an inventor, he must be reexamined as a great man of innovation. Utilizing all the resources to achieve his goal is the true nature of Admiral Yi Sun-shin as an innovator. In real world, we need innovators not inventors. He will be a great role model for the youth how to utilize resources including human resources to achieve a goal. It requires cooperation. In addition, the image of Admiral Yi Sun-shin who put his values in to action must be emphasized. There are many people with good values, but a few of them put those values in their actual lives because it requires sacrifice. The attitude of Admiral Yi Sun-shin ready for sacrifice for common good is a great model for the youths. With this, Admiral Yi Sun-shin did not order people around him, but setting an example to follow. This is the leadership we need. Key Words: Admiral Yi Sun-shin, Thoughts of Patriotism and Filial Piety, Innovative Leadership, Leadership by Example, Personality Education for Youths