Course Introduction

About this course:

Even though Korean culture’s popularity is booming, there are almost no basic courses on Korean philosophy available. This course has been developed to provide a basic knowledge of Korean philosophy to a wide audience.

The course explores the various ways that pre-modern Koreans innovated on existing traditions. It also gives insight as to how they created their own traditions through a continued development of their culture. We will explore the unique view of the world that allowed pre-modern Koreans to innovate in the way that they did, through a process which I coin as the “Korean Matrix”. By understanding the origins and evolution of Korean philosophy, the course attempts to widen the student’s worldview and expose them to alternative philosophical views.

This course is for an English speaking audience that is interested in Korean culture, instructors and students in Korean studies, and people who are interested in philosophy in a broad sense.

Majoring in Korean philosophy at SKKU

SKKU has a major called “Korean philosophy,” the only one in the world. Since the establishment of Korean philosophy department in 1981, for 40 years, Korean philosophy majors have contributed to the growth of Korean philosophy as an independent academic discipline both in academia and in education.

Their learning ranges from indigenous philosophy to contemporary philosophy in Korea and comparative philosophy exploring Korean philosophy in light of Chinese or Western philosophy. Korean philosophy is an unexplored gold mine hiding many sparkling themes that have not yet been discovered.

Go to Korean philosophy department’s website

Who will you learn with?

So Jeong Park

So Jeong is a professor of Korean philosophy at Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul, Korea. She is interested in teaching Korean philosophy in a comparative perspective, and sharing this knowledge to non-Koreans.

Introduce yourself!

Where are you from? What made you want to join this course? Do you have any prior knowledge in East Asian or Korean philosophy? Please introduce yourself in the comments section below!