(From left) Researcher Hana, Professor Park So-jung and Professor Baek Young-sun of Sungkyunkwan University, who participated in the translation project. [Sungkyunkwan University]
(From left) Researcher Hana, Professor Park So-jung and Professor Baek Young-sun of Sungkyunkwan University, who participated in the translation project. [Sungkyunkwan University]

A research team at Sungkyunkwan University has published a complete English translation of "Sachil Sinpyeon," a philosophical work by late Joseon-era practical-learning scholar Yi Ik, through Oxford University Press (OUP).

Sungkyunkwan University announced Friday that the team — comprising professors Baek Young-sun and Park So-jung of the College of Confucian Studies and researcher Hana — completed the translation. The project ran for three years from September 2022 as part of a Korean studies translation program supported by the Ministry of Education and the Academy of Korean Studies.

"Sachil Sinpyeon" is Yi Ik's systematic treatment of the "Four-Seven Debate," one of the central philosophical controversies in Joseon Confucianism, presented from his own perspective. The work examines the principles underlying the four moral sprouts — the foundations of human moral consciousness — and the seven emotions, such as joy, sorrow and anger, and explores how emotions influence moral choices. The English edition includes a translation of the original classical Chinese text alongside commentary explaining Yi Ik's thought and its historical context.

The book has been included in "New Texts in the History of Philosophy," a specialist series on the history of philosophy published by OUP under the sponsorship of the British Society for the History of Philosophy. According to Sungkyunkwan University, this marks the first time a Korean philosophical classic has appeared in the series.

Alongside the translation, the research team carried out academic activities to introduce Korean philosophy to international audiences. The team held two international seminars with overseas researchers, and seven papers produced through that process were published in a special issue of the comparative philosophy journal "Philosophy East and West" in January.

The team also launched an online course, developing 16 lectures on "Sachil Sinpyeon" and traditional Korean philosophy of emotion on Coursera, the global online education platform. More than 500 people have enrolled to date.

"Sachil Sinpyeon is a classic that explores how human emotions carry moral significance and how they can be transformed through the cultivation of the mind," said Baek Young-sun, a professor at Sungkyunkwan University. "I hope this translation will allow the theory of emotion in Joseon Confucianism to contribute to global philosophical discourse and broaden the horizons of Korean philosophy research."


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