中國經過1911年辛亥革命，推翻封建君主政治成立共和國，從此開始走向近代化的路線。又於1919年發生五四新文化運動，之後中國就走上全盤西化的道路。這時候，北京是五四運動的中心地，也是東西文化交流和衝突的中心地。尤其是北大，更是接受新文化的中心地。李相殷先生在這樣極端的轉變時期到轉變的中心去留學。他回國後就任高麗大學哲學系教授。李相殷先生一生努力以儒家思想作為韓國當時混亂社會的價值典範。他一生所努力的目標，是把儒學的價值實現到具體的生命中。 李相殷先生對儒學的關心，主要表現在對傳統儒學的新解釋。他一生所探究的，就是「儒學之現代意義」。對於處在產業資本社會裏像機器般生活的當代人來說，儒學到底有沒有意義呢？如果有意義，這個意義能不能實現？對研究儒學的學者來說，這是無法回避的問題。在韓國，最深刻也最熱情地研究這個問題的學者，就是李相殷先生。

China ended its feudal period and established a republic through the Revolution of 1911, and she started her modernization from then on. One might add that after the May Fourth Movement in 1911, China actively westernized herself in every aspect of her society. Beijing was the center of the Movement, and the melting-pot as well as the clash point of eastern and western civilizations. In this period, Beijing University played a pivotal role of introducing western culture to Chinese society, and Lee Sang En went to Beijing to study in the middle of these drastic changes and social upheavals. Lee became a faculty member of philosophy department of Korea University after having finished his study in China, and worked hard to implement Confucian values in the concrete realities of life through his life. Professor Lee’s main interest in Confucianism was to give a new interpretation to traditional Confucian thoughts. Naturally, he continuously worked on the ‘modern significance of Confucianism’. He raised the following questions; is Confucianism relevant to modern people who lives like a machine in an industrialized society? If so, is it possible to realize this relevance into something significant? These questions are central to all scholars of Confucianism. The late Lee Sang-En was the scholar who tackled these questions most deeply and most passionately in recent Korea intellectual history.