This article explains ‘Mind is Li’ demonstrated by three persons,
Lee Hangro, Gi Jeongjin, and Lee Jinsang, with relevance to the
Argument of Seven-Four Theory. It is about asking and answering
questions regarding this: After the Argument of Seven-Four
Theory was initiated by Lee Hwang and Gi Daeseung, the process
of the argument continued for 300 years among schools or even
within a school, but why did it become exposed somehow as ‘Mind
is Li’(心卽理), that is, the academic goal that those persons
commonly pursued. This is also about exploring the relationship
between the Argument of Seven-Four Theory and ‘Mind is Li’ after
all and also verifying that the Argument of Seven-Four Theory
started between Lee Hwang and Gi Daeseung continued in different
forms for 300 years in late Chosun, and the conclusion finally
appeared as ‘Mind is Li’.
From the fact that Lee Hwang just did not insist it directly, but
it was already close to ‘Mind is Li’ theoretically as affirming Ribal
(理發) and the difference between Sadan(四端) and Chiljeong(七情)
and also fixing the position of moral feelings through that, it was
not a strange thing at all that Lee Jinsang’s ‘Mind is Li’ appeared
afterwards by succeeding to him. In this sense, we can understand
that Hanju's Learning that finally appeared as succeeding to Toegye's Learning and supporting ‘Mind is Li’ did accomplish Lee
Hwang’s critical mind and pursuit more thoroughly. Meanwhile, we
can also understand that Lee Hangro and Gi Jeongjin’s ‘Mind is Li’
was the two’s choice to solve the problem internalized in the
theoretical system of ‘one way that ki is generated and then li
follows it’ and ‘Mind is Ki’, that is, if they had succeeded to Gi
Daeseung and Lee Yi’s point of view, it would have denied the
moral subject after all. Their viewpoint itself already was
estranged from Yulgok's Learning, but their critical mind still
reached Gi Daeseung and Lee Yi; in this sense, they were the
members of Giho School.