• The Journal of Korean Philosophical History
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• no.29
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• pp.33-54
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• 2010

Woodam(愚潭) Jeong Si-han(丁時翰, 1625-1707) played an important role in the formation and development of the Toegye School. This writing explores the way Woodam understood the thought of Toegye(退溪, 1501-1570) as presented in The Book of Four-Seve Demonstration(四七辨證) The 17th century that Woodam lived in was the period in which monism and dualism coexisted. Woodam's understanding of Toegye's thought can be summarized as follows: 1) Woodam followed Toegye's li(理)-qi(氣) defense and his view on the origin of nature and emotion, acknowledging Toegye as the orthodox transmitter of Zhu Xi's teachings, 2) Woodam considered that the difference between the past and the contemporary teachings was simply caused by the difficulty of comprehending the character "li (principle) ". Thus he criticized Yulgok(栗谷, 1536-1584)'s claim that "that which rises is qi (material force), and that which gives rise to qi is li," and followed instead Toegye's views of the entivity, dynamism, and ultimacy of li and its substantial function. Yet, Woodam further developed Toegye's thought and asserted that "in the midst of the marvelous unity of li and qi, li is always dominant and qi is always ancillary." 3) Woodam criticized Yulgok's thought and advocated Toegye's doctrine of the mutual motion of li and qi(理氣互發說), thereby following Toegye's insistence that difference can be observed in sameness and sameness can be observed in difference, that integrative thinking is needed to constructively embrace both analytic and synthetic judgments. In conclusion, Woodam understood profoundly and correctly Toegye's views on the relationship between li and qi and between nature and emotion, and explained them more concretely. In so doing, he endeavored to live the life by the teachings of Toegye.