Course: Introduction to Korean Philosophy

In this video, we will consider a changing landscape of philosophy. For this, we will start from the origin of the name ‘Philosophy’. What happened when the Western philosophy engaged …

What do you think is philosophy? Have you heard of Korean philosophy? This week, we’re going to look at what Korean philosophy is, and what makes it different from the …

Congratulations on completing your first steps into Korean philosophy! We’ve briefly discussed many aspects of Korean philosophy and culture over these four weeks. In the first week, we looked at …

This week, we have explored the characteristics of Korean philosophy, covering the two famous debates in the Korean intellectual traditions. We began with a fundamental aspect of Korean philosophy, in …

After the Four-Seven debate, the lineage of philosophical debate continued on to the Horak debate. The “Ho” group, known as the orthodox line, and the “Rak” group, known as the …

Now that we’ve seen how Toegye and Yulgok had begun a long line of Korean philosophical debate, let’s try to understand the Four-Seven Debate a little more in-depth. The Four-Seven …

There were two philosophical giants, Toegye (1502-1571) and Yulgok (1536-1584), in the history of Korean philosophy. Following their work, Korean philosophy could have its own reference and source, which led …

Have you ever wondered whether or not the emotions you feel in everyday life are moral? Joseon intellectuals debated whether our everyday feelings, such as joy and sorrow, could be …

This week, we will cover two traits that are often used to describe Koreans: One is “Koreans are affectionate” and the other is “Koreans are argumentative.” We will focus on …

Certain philosophical questions are considered “perennial”. Just as perennial plants bloom and bear fruit each year, perennial questions return time and time again to a new landscape of thought. Questions …

This is the end of this week. This week, we have moved a step closer to Korean philosophy through two examples of Korean cultural innovations, Sungkyun and Hangeul. They are …

Many of you may know there is a unique alphabet system in Korea, called “Hangeul”. Hangeul is unprecedentedly innovative, but Hangeul’s originality is in fact also an achievement developed from …

Have you heard of the word “Sungkyun”? Some of you may have heard of this word in the name of “Sungkyunkwan University”, the institution which provides this course. Otherwise, if …

“Uri” is an excellent way of understanding “self” that is inextricably linked with the surrounding beings. If you look closely at the word “Uri,” you can see how Koreans understand …

For those who want to further explore the philosophical implications of the “Uri,” I would like to introduce a thesis dealing with “Korean We” from a phenomenological perspective. KIM Hye …