 Both T’oegye’s Diagrams and Yulgok’s Essentials advocate pathways towards sagehood and promote the concept of self-cultivation. Both scholars also emphasised the special role of the king who was expected to be a paragon of Confucian morality and humanity (ren), the living embodiment of the ideals of “sagehood”. T’oegye and Yulgok elucidate our place in a morally directed universe, where one is expected to act responsibly towards other members of the family and the larger society, or rather “practice” a social vision of morality in our daily lives. For both scholars, sagehood represented a noble savoir vivre, the goal of which was to benefit others, and this in itself was the key to becoming a sage. T’oegye and Yulgok provide us with archetypes of a sort of East Asian Neo-Confucian “Social Contract”, to draw on Jean Jacques Rousseau’s (1712–1778) major work published in 1762. Both Korean scholars stress the moral and social responsibility of those in power, but also the moral responsibility of individuals to each other as members of an interconnected society—and this is something the world can appreciate now more than ever, as we face a global pandemic in 2020/21, where through socially responsible distancing, we both respect and protect others.