Seongho Yi Ik’s Natural Theory of Emotions

Seven Debate ( Sachil Sinpyeon 四七新編) cut across previously held distinctions between the Four Beginnings and the Seven Feelings and carved out a greater role for emotions as a normative force in moral life. This not only unsettled the traditional normative hierarchy of gong and sa but also provided an alternative conceptual mapping of these terms and their relations based on a more materialistic and embodied psychological account of emotions. This paper examines the naturalistic foundations of Seongho’s theory of emotions and argues that Seongho offers a distinctive account of how first-personal, bodily experience could be reconciled with objective engagement with the world, taking us beyond the dualities of private vs. public, partial vs. impartial, and self-regarding vs. other-regarding of standard conceptions.