• The Journal of Korean Philosophical History
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• no.30
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• pp.7-36
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• 2010

Cho Gwang-jo(趙光祖, 1482-1519) was the moralist who had the purest conscience and aimed the devoted politics among many fellow Confucianists of Chosun Dynasty. He even criticized his teacher who was in his late forty years for not being able to control his emotions when he was just a teenager. That is to say, he was the one who have kept his cold reasons for entire life. Nevertheless, as mentioned before, Cho Gwang-jo was very faithful to his emotions and also very honest. We find that he was definitely emotional. He demanded to change the relationship between the king and the courtier to the one between the father and the son with humane communication. He expressed his mind and emotion he had used to have at the moment of his death: he loved his king just as he loved his father. However, the king, Joongjong, was indifferent at the human's emotion as if he was a senseless figure. That was the saddest frustration and grief he had. However, his grief did not remained just as the mere grief but again survived as the hope for the survivors and descendants with the big echo. In this respect, his gried did not just end as the grief but it can be said that it even revived itself as the strength and courage. Then, Cho Gwang-jo's life as a human being was never a failure. Moreover, his grief and agony did not just remained as the vain emotion and sadness.