• The Journal of Korean Philosophical History
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• no.29
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• pp.7-31
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• 2010

This paper seeks to illuminate the intellectual context of Giljae, who had carried out a unique life during the late Koryŏ and early Chosun period and left quite a significant imprint on the Chosun intellectual history. In the midst of the tumultuous political changes in the late Koryŏ, Giljae worried the fate of the declining Koryŏ dynasty after contemplating on the directions that Yi Sŏnggye had taken after the Wihwado Retreat and made it very clear that he would rather honor the integrity of Baekyi·Sukje(伯夷叔齊). The traces that Giljae had left in this period obtained its significance not just as a loyal integrity of a subject but as a paragon of life that lived up to the principles of the Confucius truth. To decline a prestigious position in the service of a king when it was offered is not just to buy the honor of integrity. It is an endeavor to live one's life right as to how one entered the world and retreated from it in accordance with the Confucius teachings. That many kings and scholars in the Chosun period placed Giljae highly in the intellectual history of Korean Confucianism in remembering his integrity is none other than the recognition of this fact.