율곡에 있어 감정의 善惡문제와 誠意工夫

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to survey the theory of the study on human feelings of Yulgok Lee Yi(栗谷 李珥, 1536~1584) by examining the role and meaning of “the study on sincerity of the will”(誠意工夫, one of the representative methods of self-cultivation by Lee) in manifesting emotions, based on his ideas about four beginnings and seven feelings(四端․七情) and human mind and moral mind(人心․道心). In his self-cultivation theory, Yulgok Lee explains the issue of good and evil emotion as the condition or function of qi(氣). However, it is noticeable that Lee does not treat emotion(情), named “four beginnings and seven feelings”, as a direct object in the manifestation process of feelings. In other words, terms such as expansion of four beginnings or restriction of seven feelings are rarely used. This does not mean that Lee never comments on the issue of perfectly-measured emotion in his self-cultivation theory. He suggests the study on sincerity of the will(誠意工夫) with human mind and moral mind, instead of four beginnings and seven feelings. As a result, this study prevents excess or deficiency of the heart and works as the essential method for the healthy cognitive function. We can consider the attitude of Yulgok Lee Yi in two different ways. First, Lee defined that seven feelings already contain four beginnings(七包四). According to this, Lee cannot suggest incompatible methods such as expansion of four beginnings and restriction of seven feelings. On the contrary, human mind and moral mind are defined as interchangeable--sharing their roles as a supervisor and a subject. Therefore, the proposition “The moral mind ought to be the supervisor of the human mind,” does not contain any logical conflict. Second, meaning(意) can be controlled, whereas emotion(精) cannot be. Lee tried to give answer for the perfectly-measured emotion through the study on sincerity of the will, pointing that human mind and moral mind include both feeling and emotion and can be psychologically controlled, when four beginnings and seven feelings are automatic reactions and cannot be controlled. Although Lee strictly discerned four beginnings and seven feelings-human mind and moral mind, he also emphasized that all of these are the results of the heart and mind reactions. He sees these four in the same level and explains their patterns according to the condition of qi. For Lee, four-seven-human-moral only means the psychological condition in the light of Confucianism and does not respectively belong to different levels in essential. The goodness and evil of four-seven-human- moral and their control are the states to be intended or refrained in psychological and emotional aspects. In the same context, the study on sincerity of the will by Yulgok Lee Yi can be accepted as a method of cognitive approach for the problem of mind.