退溪思想體系硏究를 위한 小考 – 그 리기묘합적(理氣妙合的) 사유 –

Abstract

This paper aims to demonstrate Toegye Ihwang(退溪 李滉, 1501~1570)’s philosophy is none other than founded on his philosphical thought of li-gi myo hap (理氣妙合). For the purpose, while firstly reassessing a previous and more recent studies that conventionally define Toegye’s philosophy in terms of‘li-gi dualism(理氣二元論),’ grounded on the intractable notion of exclusive substance from Western philosophy, it sets up its research direction suitable for his philosophical thought. According to its research direction, the paper makes an deep analysis of the thought li-gi myo hap (理氣妙合) in light of the ontological and cosmological dimension, and reconstructs the meaning of libal-i-gisu ji(理發而氣隨之)and gibal-i-liseung ji(氣發而理乘之), by making a close inquiry of the marvelous function of li-gi myo young(理氣妙用) such like neungbal neungsaeng(能發能生) and neunghyeonhaeng(能顯行), and its ontological structure of ho jae gi jung (互在其中). The meaning reconstructed gets to be a theoretical rationale for Toegye’s development of sadan-chiljeong(四端七情) in doing pursuit of systematic consistency which is conformable to the thought of li-gi myo hap (理氣妙合) in his philosophy of ligi-simseong(理氣-心性).