Claim. Unification Thought establishes ten primary categories — Existence & Force, Sungsang & Hyungsang, Yang & Yin, Subject & Object, Position & Settlement, Unchangeability & Changeability, Action & Effect, Time & Space, Number & Principle, Finitude & Infinity — derived from its own core principles rather than from grammar or judgment-forms.
Elaboration. Sang Hun Lee insists on terminology native to Unification Thought (Basic Forms of Thought). Categories are ‘the highest generic concepts’ and the most fundamental forms of thought. They are established, in Unification Thought, on the basis of the principles of the four-position-foundation and give-and-take action — ‘because the four position foundation and give and receive action are the core principles of Unification Thought.’
The ten primary categories:
- Existence & Force
- Sungsang & Hyungsang
- Yang & Yin
- Subject & Object
- Position & Settlement
- Unchangeability & Changeability
- Action & Effect
- Time & Space
- Number & Principle
- Finitude & Infinity
Secondary categories develop from these and include: Quality & Quantity, Content & Form, Essence & Phenomenon, Cause & Effect, Whole & Individual, Abstract & Concrete, Substance & Attribute. Some secondary categories overlap with traditional philosophy — e.g., ‘essence & phenomenon’ corresponds to ‘Sungsang & Hyungsang.’
Why not just use the established term ‘essence & phenomenon’? Lee answers directly: ‘Those concepts which constitute the fundamentals of Unification Thought are such concepts as four position foundation, Origin-Division-Union Action, give and receive action, and so on. If these were to be taken away, it would mean that Unification Thought would lose its skeleton. Therefore, we can not but use these terms as categories of Unification Thought.’
The deeper claim is sociological: ‘Categories are the signboard of a thought system… when one sees the categories of a thought system, one knows the thought system itself.’ Marx has Marxist categories, Kant has Kantian, Hegel has Hegelian. Unification Thought must have Unification Thought categories. The ten primaries are that signboard — they identify the system at a glance and refuse to be assimilated to traditional philosophical vocabulary.
See also. ut-ten-basic-forms-of-existence-equal-forms-of-thought, concept-intension-extension-categories, ut-three-kinds-of-subject-object-relations