Abstract

Toegye Yi Hwang is the most renowned Neo-Confucian thinker of Korea’s Joseon dynasty. The first three sections of this chapter describe his early life, the violent “literati purges” that preceded and extended tragically into his early career, and his career in office, from which he sought retirement only to be recalled repeatedly. The fourth section looks into the primary sources, the books from which he became steeped in the learning of the Cheng-Zhu school of Neo-Confucian thought. His own major written works are briefly described. The fifth section is devoted to the most famous controversy in the history of Korean Neo-Confucian thought, the Four-Seven Debate, which originated between Toegye and a younger scholar, Gobong. This is followed by a section of description and analysis of the work that is considered his masterwork, the Ten Diagrams on Sage Learning. A brief conclusion sums up his contribution and imprint on Korean Neo-Confucian thought.