The Modern Value of Li Tuixi’s Humanistic Spirits

Li Tuixi (LEE T’oegye) was a great Korean scholar from the Yi Dynasty known as “Haidong Zhuzi” or “The Zhuzi of the East of the Sea”. He constructed a unique and innovative logic system of philosophical and academic thinking using the works “Ten Pictures of Sage Learning” and “Enlightenment and Interrogative Doubts”, in order to restore Kong Meng and Cheng Zhu’s Confucianism to the world. This philosophy and Korean traditional culture and social practice were combined and became the era’s essence for solving real societal conflicts and crises. The humanistic spirits of Tuixi philosophy are embodied in five major aspects: suffering spirit, reform spirit, Xingli (natural principle) spirit, morality spirit and practice spirit. In modern times, where mankind is facing various conflicts, crises and challenges, carrying forward and promoting the five spirits of Tuixi’s humanism has great significance in creating a new shared fate community and harmoniously unified win-win world filled with peace, development, happiness and harmony.