Yi Ik

Yi Ik, also known by his pen name Seongho, was an eighteenth-century Korean Neo-Confucian scholar associated with Silhak, or “Practical Learning.” Working largely outside official life, he criticized social conditions in Joseon Korea and proposed reforms concerning landholding and hereditary servitude. His writings addressed Confucian debate, political order, and Western learning, including the works *Seongho saseol* and *Ch’ŏnju sirŭi-bal*.