Academic Formalization of Yadan Ethics

초록

Academic Formalization of Yadan Ethics DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.62783/SHSS.8.2.32 Gyunyeol Park,* Wonil Choi,** & Taewoong Kim*** Abstract: This study begins from the recognition that, in the course of its institutionalization and abstraction, modern ethics has failed to adequately capture the concreteness of everyday life, embodied experience, and relational contexts. Ethics formalized within law, norms, and academic discourse has succeeded in achieving logical coherence and universality; however, it has become increasingly detached from the lived world in which moral judgments actually arise and where the hardships of daily life are experienced. In response, this study proposes the concept of “Yadan Ethics”, which theoretically articulates ethical sensibilities and judgments emerging from everyday sites of life, referred to here as yadan (野壇). Yadan Ethics is a form of lived ethics grounded in life beyond institutional settings, centering on bodily fatigue, traces of labor, and immediate moral judgments arising within human relationships. Rather than emphasizing abstract moral rules, it foregrounds moral orientations that are formed through the very process of living. This paper first critically examines the structural limitations of normative and institutional ethics, and then establishes the conceptual foundations of Yadan Ethics through three key dimensions: the lifeworld, embodiment, and relationality. Furthermore, it introduces the concept of the Ethicopath as a form of ethical pathology to critique institution-centered ethical attitudes that disregard the significant values of others, and argues for the anti-pathological character of Yadan Ethics as an alternative. In conclusion, by systematizing Yadan Ethics as a coherent ethical theory, this study offers new directions for care ethics, civic ethics, moral education, and applied ethics more broadly, and proposes a theoretical effort to restore ethics to the lived temperature of everyday life. Key Words: Yadan Ethics, Everydayness, Embodiment, Ethicopath, Applied Ethics □ Received: Jan. 26, 2026, Revised: Mar. 6, 2026, Accepted: Mar. 28, 2026＊ First Author, Professor, Gyeongsang National Univ., Email: pgy556@gnu.kr** Co-author, PhD Candidate, Kyungpook National Univ., Email: cwi5107@naver.com*** Corresponding Author, Professor, Gyeongsang National Univ., Email: kimtw@gnu.ac.kr

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