 Two of the most preeminent scholars of the first half of the Chosŏn dynasty, Yi Hwang (1501–1570), well known by his pen name T’oegye, and Yi I (1536–1584), known by the pen name Yulgok, are responsible for the deep level of metaphysical debates that would mark Neo-Confucianism in Korea. Both would engage in attempts to analyse the macrocosmic Principle and its microcosmic interactions with material force (K. ki). More importantly, they would initiate an intricate debate about what these interactions meant for our minds and human nature, as actualised through our thoughts and actions, linked with a sense of psychological and social urgency. Korea’s Neo-Confucian scholars propounded a social guiding discourse that is humanistic in essence (drawing on the Confucian in), reflected in how we are linked externally (through conduct) and internally (through thought). Sagehood itself is achieved through learning, or rather, “Sage Learning”, a term underscored by Oh Kangnam (1993: 313) as “one of the essential components, if not the essence, of Korean Confucianism […]”, adding that “Neo-Confucianism’s hallmark was its emphasis on sage-learning”.