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Yi Hwang

1501–1570

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Our purest moral feelings come from principle itself, not from mere physical energy, so the mind must be guarded with reverent attention.

Placement

East Asian Philosophy · East Asia · Metaphysics, Ethics

Toegye, with Yi I one of the two leading Korean Neo-Confucians of the Joseon period: in the “Four–Seven Debate” he gave principle (li) priority over material force (qi) in moral feeling.

Key ideas

  • Four–Seven Debate
  • Priority of principle (li)
  • Reverent attentiveness (gyeong)

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Influence

Influenced by 2

  • Mengzi (Mencius)

    influenced by

    In the Four–Seven Debate with Gi Daeseung (1559–66) Yi Hwang set Mencius’ four sprouts, issued by principle, apart from the seven feelings issued by material force. M. C. Kalton et al., The Four-Seven Debate (1994); E. Y. J. Chung, The Korean Neo-Confucianism of Yi T’oegye and Yi Yulgok (1995)

    Evidence: AI draft

    Mengzi (Mencius) › c. 372–289 BCE

  • Zhu Xi

    influenced by

    Yi Hwang compiled the Essentials of Zhu Xi’s Letters (Juja seo jeoryo) and summed up Zhu’s learning of the sage in his Ten Diagrams on Sage Learning (1568). Yi Hwang, Juja seo jeoryo; Seonghak sipdo (1568), tr. M. C. Kalton, To Become a Sage (1988)

    Evidence: AI draft

    Zhu Xi › 1130–1200

Influenced 1

  • Jeong Yak-yong (Dasan)

    influenced

    Jeong Yak-yong read Yi Hwang’s letters as guides to self-examination and recorded his reflections as a private disciple of Toegye (Dosan sasungnok). Jeong Yak-yong, Dosan sasungnok, in Yeoyudang jeonseo; M. Setton, Chŏng Yagyong: Korea’s Challenge to Orthodox Neo-Confucianism (1997)

    Evidence: AI draft

    Jeong Yak-yong (Dasan) › 1762–1836

Criticism

Criticized by 1

  • Yi I (Yulgok)

    criticised by

    Yi I (Yulgok) rejected Yi Hwang’s view that principle (li) and material force (qi) each ‘issue’ feelings: only qi issues, with li riding upon it (Four–Seven Debate). Yi I, letters to Seong Hon (1572); M. Kalton et al., The Four-Seven Debate, 1994

    Evidence: AI draft

    Yi I (Yulgok) › 1536–1584

Criticizes 1

  • Wang Yangming

    criticised

    Yi Hwang (Toegye) attacked Wang Yangming’s Instructions for Practical Living, rejecting the unity of knowledge and action and ‘mind is principle’ as Chan in Confucian dress. Yi Hwang, Jeonseumnok nonbyeon; E. Y. J. Chung, The Korean Neo-Confucianism of Yi T’oegye and Yi Yulgok, 1995

    Evidence: AI draft

    Wang Yangming › 1472–1529

Works

Position

Toegye was the leading Korean interpreter of Zhu Xi. In a famous correspondence with the younger scholar Ki Taesung, the “Four–Seven Debate”, he asked how the four moral beginnings named by Mencius, such as compassion, relate to the seven ordinary feelings, such as joy and anger. His answer: the four issue from principle (li), with material force (qi) following; the seven issue from qi, with li riding on it. Thus he secured the priority of the moral over the merely physical. At the centre of self-cultivation he placed reverence (gyeong), a steady attentiveness of mind, as his Ten Diagrams on Sage Learning, written for the young King Seonjo, make clear.

Life & context

Yi Hwang, better known by his pen name Toegye, was born in 1501 near Andong in south-eastern Korea under the Joseon dynasty; his father died when he was an infant. He passed the civil service examination in 1534 and held high offices but repeatedly withdrew home to study and teach. There he founded the Dosan school, which after his death became the Dosan Academy. He died in 1570.

Further main works

  • Essentials of Master Zhu’s Letters (Jujaseo jeoryo, 1550s)
  • Letters of the Four–Seven Debate with Ki Taesung (1559–1566)

Sources: Wikipedia · Wikidata

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