• The Korean Journal of Archival Studies
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• no.51
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• pp.235-278
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• 2017

Then, why was the system so thorough and strict? How could that be possible? I approached this question by explaining the task of the Joseon Dynasty for the construction of a Confucian community based on Sunglihak. Sunglihak meant the metaphysics of human nature and universe order, or the rule of heaven. The people who opened the Joseon Dynasty aimed at constructing a Confucian community based on propriety as the principle of the society. The records and archives played an administrative function, for example, controlling royal power, as well as the role of constructing a national community identity based on Sunglihak. This kind of records and records management practices of the Joseon Dynasty can be seen as conceptual construction and conceptual constructs, although they were physical entities in reality. They reflected the Sunglihak value system as, in the words of Michel Focault, an "episteme" and played a social role based on it. In particular, I explained it in light of the constructivism of Sunglihak and the semiosis concept of Charles Sanders Peirce.