The Four-Seven Debate: An Annotated Translation of the Most Famous Controversy in Korean Neo-Confucian Thought (S U N Y Series in Korean Studies) (Suny Series, Korean Studies)

This book is an annotated translation, with introduction and commentary, of the correspondence between Yi Hwang (T'oegye, 1500-1570) and Ki Taesung (Kobong, 1527-1572) and between Yi I (Yulgok, 1536-1584) and Song Hon (Ugye, 1535-1598), known as the Four-Seven Debate, the most famous philosophical controversy in Korean Neo-Confucian thought. The most complex issues and difficult tensions in the great Neo-Confucian synthesis are at the juncture between the metaphysics of the cosmos and the human psyche. The Four-Seven Debate is perhaps the most searching examination of this tension ever carried out. "This book introduces to an English-reading audience an extremely important issue in Korean Neo-Confucianism. Moreover, it shows how that philosophical debate was really about practical issues that arise in the course of moral cultivation. I find this book, particularly the introduction, the most lucid account of the origin, course, and significance of the Four-Seven Debate available in any language other than Korean, and it is better than most of the Korean material. "The Four-Seven Debate has relevance far beyond Korean intellectual history. This book should be useful to people interested in philosophical or moral issues from a wide variety of cultural traditions. It will bring the Four-Seven Debate to the attention of scholars and writers exploring questions of evil and the human condition who would otherwise have been unaware of it." -- Don Baker, University of British Columbia