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More details on the Four-Seven debate This article is from the online course:

Now that we’ve seen how Toegye and Yulgok had begun a long line of Korean Introduction to Korean Philosophy
philosophical debate, let’s try to understand the Four Seven Debate deeper.

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Now that we’ve seen how Toegye and Yulgok had begun a long line of Korean
philosophical debate, let’s try to understand the Four-Seven Debate a little more in-
depth.

The Four-Seven Debate dealt with matters of morality and our own nature.

The Four Sprouts, first conceptualized by Mencius, are a sort of innate moral
sensibility, which is experienced as immediate emotional responses to morally
significant events in everyday life. For example, if one were to see a child about to fall
in a well, the natural instinct of the human mind would be to save him, not for some
later reward, but because of the activation of these innate morals.

The Seven Emotions, however, are the common everyday emotions that we feel in life,
such as joy, anger, and sadness. Scholars believed that when these emotions are not
expressed (미발, Mibal), we are at equilibrium, and that when these emotions are
expressed (이발, Ibal) and taken through their course, we are in a state of harmony.

Interestingly, these concepts of the Four Sprouts and the Seven Emotions were never
combined in Neo-Confucianist schools of thought until Toegye and Yulgok entered the
picture in the sixteenth century. This is when Korean Neo-Confucianism began to form
its distinct identity. The Four-Seven Debate boils down to these two arguments.

Toegye believed that the emergence of our innate morals, the Four Sprouts, are made
of Li (principle), while our Seven Emotions are made of Qi (psycho-physical force).
Thus, even though both the Four Sprouts and Seven Emotions are types of feelings,

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the Four Sprouts are inherently good through Li, while the Seven Emotions are mixed
with good and bad, just like how different quantities and qualities of Qi in an
individual can be good or bad.

Yulgok, on the other hand, thought differently. Given that our principles require a
psycho-physical force to be expressed, and that a psycho-physical force without
principles would have nothing to guide it, he believed that Li and Qi were
interdependent. Thus, there cannot be a pure expression of one without the other. He
claimed that the Four Sprouts, though inherently good, should be understood to be
rooted in the Seven Emotions, which he considered a comprehensive term containing
both good and bad.

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Introduction to Korean Philosophy

Ultimately, the disagreement arose from the origins of the Four Sprouts and the Seven
Emotions. Are the Four Sprouts a part of the Seven Emotions, as Li and Qi are
interdependent? Or should the moral Sprouts, based upon Li, be considered
fundamentally separate from the fickle Emotions grounded in Qi? This spawned a long
and comprehensive debate in the field of Neo-Confucianism in Korea. More
importantly, the writings of Toegye and Yulgok, the two giants of Korean philosophy,
started a lineage of original Neo-Confucian thought in Korean, allowing for future
Korean scholars to reference literature in their own language.

Do you have any questions regarding Neo-Confucianism and the Four-Seven Debate?
Feel free to ask questions if you’re unsure, and if you understand these concepts, help
other learners out with their doubts in the comments below.

© Sungkyunkwan University

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This content is taken from Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU) online course

Introduction to Korean Philosophy

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