The department of Philosophy offers philosophy courses which are necessary to foster philosophical experts who serve the community and to cultivate Catholic priests. The curriculum aims to develop philosophical thinking and acknowledgement ability based on the Christianity and so that it will help students to discover and realize the right meaning and worth of life and living.
The Curriculum
The Course of Studies for the Master’s Degree
1. Students must earn at least 45 credits in order to receive a Master’s Degree. These must include 33 credits in courses of the Philosophy Department and 6 credits in the courses offered by other departments. A thesis (corresponding to 6 credits) must be submitted.
2. The Comprehensive Examination must be taken after the Foreign Language Examination has been passed. Candidates’ knowledge of epistemology, metaphysics (including special metaphysics), ethics (including social philosophy) will be tested by a 60-minute oral exam. Oriental philosophy will be divided into Chinese philosophy 1, Chinese philosophy 2 and Korean philosophy, each topic being tested by a 60-minute written exam.
3. Students should consult the Head of the department and determine a thesis supervisor at the beginning of their 3rd semester, and then prepare the thesis. The application form for the assignment of a thesis supervisor should be submitted at the start of the 3rd semester. Students must submit their thesis topic proposal after passing the Comprehensive Examination.
4. Fundamental courses are offered on the following basis, but the schedule is subject to change depending on circumstances.
| Spring Semester | Fall Semester | |
| Courses offered every year | History of Ancient Western Philosophy History of Medieval Western Philosophy Epistemology Ethics Chinese Philosophy Ⅰ |
History of Modern Western Philosophy History of Contemporary Western Philosophy Metaphysics History of Korean Philosophy |
| Courses offered every 3rd semester | Logic, Philosophy of God, Social Philosophy, Philosophical Anthropology | |
| Courses offered every 4th semester | Philosophy of Religion, Buddhist Philosophy | |
Courses
| Course Num. | Course Name | Credits |
| Contents | ||
| 201 | Introduction to Logic | 3 Credits. |
| An examination of basic formal logic and of the methods and principles used in distinguishing right reasoning from wrong. This course will deal with argument, logicality and verity in discussing the basic concepts of logic particularly, and introduce prepositional logic, distinguished as Aristotelian syllogism, as well as deduction and induction in general. This course will also analyze diverse kinds of fallacies. | ||
| 202 | Methods in Philosophy | 3 Credits. |
| Aims at a practical study of philosophical thinking while comprehensively comparing the characteristics and differences of phenomenological, hermeneutic, meta-linguistic, and transcendental methods. | ||
| 211 | History of Ancient Western Philosophy | 3 Credits. |
| Offers a historical survey of Greek philosophy in the 6th and 5th centuries B.C., including early natural philosophy, later natural philosophy, the philosophies of the Sophists, Plato, Aristotle, Pyrrhus, the Stoics, Epicurus, and Plotinus. | ||
| 212 | History of Medieval Western Philosophy | 3 Credits. |
| Studies the distinctive problems of medieval philosophy, focusing on the main medieval philosophers from the rise of Christianity to the Renaissance: Augustine, Origen, Boethius, Thomas Aquinas, Bonaventure, and Duns Scotus. | ||
| 213 | History of Modern Western Philosophy | 3 Credits. |
| Considers the major problems in modern philosophy as discussed by such philosophers as Descartes, Spinoza, Leibnitz, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, Kant, Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel. | ||
| 214 | History of Contemporary Western Philosophy | 3 Credits. |
| Introduces the latest philosophical thought in detail, and analyzes its characteristic features: Marxism, Philosophy of Life, Phenomenology, Hermeneutics, Existentialism, Analytic Philosophy, Structuralism, and modern Thomism. | ||
| 231 | Epistemology | 3 Credits. |
| Considers the possibilities, limits and objects of episteme, the structures of knowledge and their precision, the essence of truth and its standards, the question of cognizable truth, its conditions and foundations. This course will also explore representative standpoints in dealing with the theses of Plato and Aristotle, British Empiricism and Rationalism, and Kant’s doctrines, and introduce various contemporary epistemological opinions, with a critical investigation of relativism and skepticism. | ||
| 232 | Metaphysics | 3 Credits. |
| Studies some of the central questions, such as ontology in general, reasons of being, humanity and the universe, and the question of God. Various metaphysical issues will be considered: the history and methodology of metaphysics, the concept and basic principles of existence, the transcendental features and intrinsic structures of existence, entity and personality, the theory of causation, immanence and transcendence, and divisional possession of existence. The existence of God will be discussed, in relationship with questions about the basis of being. | ||
| 233 | The Philosophy of God | 3 Credits. |
| Discusses the problem of God in relationship with the nature and essence of, and the evidence for the existence of God, with special consideration of meaning and experience. This course will also examine the attributes of God within the limits accessible to human reason, as well as the topics of creation, providence, and faith. | ||
| 234 | Philosophical Anthropology | 3 Credits. |
| Seeks to understand human nature through phenomenological, hermeneutic and ontological approaches, with a systematic examination of questions about body and soul as human inscape, the relationship with the universe, self-fulfillment and self-realization, ultimate aims, freedom, and transcendence, using philosophical viewpoints. This course will also consider the historical, social and religious characteristics of the human being. | ||
| 236 | Studies in Atheism | 3 Credits. |
| A critical study of atheism in the history of philosophy, with a reflective and comprehensive discussion of trends in contemporary atheistic thought. | ||
| 251 | Ethics | 3 Credits. |
| An intensive study of the specific problems of ethical theory: ethical relativity, the relation between religion and art, natural law and ethical thought, the moral problems caused by scientific developments. This course also compares western ethical views with eastern ones in specific areas, and intensively examines the views of specific philosophers, such as Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, Kant, and the utilitarians. | ||
| 301 | Practice in Philosophy | 3 Credits. |
| Offers further explanation and systematization of questions in epistemology, ethics, philosophical anthropology, the philosophy of God, and metaphysics, in relation to philosophy. | ||
| 312 | Patristic Philosophy | 3 Credits. |
| A study of the development of the encounter between Christian thought and Graeco-Roman philosophy, with a selective study of early Christian thinkers by themes. | ||
| 315 | Aristotle | 3 Credits. |
| Studies the thought of Aristotle as it is expressed in his writings. | ||
| 321 | Thomism 1 | 3 Credits. |
| A broad study of the historical processes that have occurred since Thomas Aquinas’s thought first emerged, with a comprehensive discussion of modern Thomism in particular. Through Thomism, this course offers a future-oriented presentation of contemporary philosophical thought and new research in theology. | ||
| 322 | Thomism 2 | 3 Credits. |
| A selective and intensive study of thinkers who follow the thought of Thomas Aquinas. | ||
| 331 | Empiricism | 3 Credits. |
| Studies the British Enlightenment philosophers who, applying epistemology, analyze the origin of every form of knowledge and idea on the basis of discretion. Special emphasis will be put on a critical review of Locke’s refutation of innate ideas, Berkeley’s denial of material entity, Hume’s ideas of causality and induction, and an examination of the processes resulting in epistemological skepticism. | ||
| 332 | Idealism | 3 Credits. |
| A study of the main topics and the historical context of German Idealism from Kant, Fichte, Schelling to Hegel: the relation between theory and realization, between self and object, between nature and mind, the question of the Absolute, and the historicity of human existence. | ||
| 333 | Realism | 3 Credits. |
| Studies representative theories of Realism by reading original texts. | ||
| 334 | Rationalism | 3 Credits. |
| Studies representative theories of Rationalism by reading original texts. | ||
| 335 | Existentialism | 3 Credits. |
| Examines the context and characteristic features of modern Existentialism and the thought of existentialists such as Kierkegaard, Jaspers, Heidegger, Marcel, Camus, and Sartre. | ||
| 361 | History of Chinese Philosophy 1 | 3 Credits. |
| Focuses on the pioneering role in the development of classical Chinese philosophy of the thought of the Hundred Schools (Zhu Zi Bai Jia 諸子百家): Confucius, Mencius, Sun-Tzu, Lao-Tzu, Chang-Tzu, Mo-Tzu etc. It will also study the main philosophers of the Han Dynasty and the Period of Disunity, including the Three Kingdoms, the Chin Dynasty and the Southern & Northern Dynasties together with an introduction to Buddhism and its historical development. | ||
| 362 | Chinese Philosophy 2 | 3 Credits. |
| Studies Neo-Confucian philosophy from the Sung to the Qing dynasties, discussing philosophers such as Chou Tun-i, Chang Tsai, and his nephews, the brothers Ch'eng Hao and Ch'eng I as founders of Neo-Confucianism and the philosophy of Zhu Xi who systemized it in the Sung period, as well as the thought of Yang-Ming and the philosophical trends of his school, and the development of Wang Xian-Shang’s philosophy. | ||
| 364 | History of Korean Philosophy | 3 Credits. |
| A general study of philosophical theories in Korea from ancient until recent times. This course will examine the Buddhist philosophy of Wonhyo, Uichon, Chinul, etc., the Korean Confucianism and Neo-Confucianism of Toe-Gye and Yul-Gok, the philosophical meaning of Ye-Hak, the ideas of Shilhak or Practical Learning, and other philosophies up to the introduction of modern Western philosophy into Korea. | ||
| 381 | Social Philosophy | 3 Credits. |
| A selective study of methodologies in social philosophy and the main social philosophies in the history of philosophy | ||
| 382 | The Philosophy of Nature | 3 Credits. |
| Undertakes a general examination of philosophers’ ideas of nature: the nature of physical entity, contingency and necessity in nature, finality, becoming and change, and cosmology. | ||
| 391 | Philosophy of Religion | 3 Credits. |
| Considers religious experience from a rational point of view, and explores the definitions of the sacred or the divine, which lead to prayer, worship, ceremonial, and mysticism. This course will also discuss religious experiences such as emotion, intuition, belief, intelligence, working of will, and other possible topics, as well as such questions as transcendence and immanence, nature and the supernatural, rationality and irrationality, the possibility of revelation, and the universality of religious experience. | ||
| 392 | Studies in the Western Learning | 3 Credits. |
| Examines the questions discussed in the introduction of Catholicism into China and Korea; examining such Catholic works as “T'ien-chu-she-i” (The True Doctrine of God, 天主實義), the left or right wings in Shilhak, the Korean Practical Learning Schools from Sung-Ho Lee Ik (李瀷) to Da-San Chung Yak-Yong (丁若鏞). | ||
| 401 | Special Topics in Philosophy | 3 Credits. |
| Examines how specific topics, according to subject, have been discussed. Topics discussed may include entity, personality, necessity and freedom, identity, and time. | ||
| 406 | German Philosophy | 3 Credits. |
| Examines various philosophical ideas since German idealism: the Philosophy of Life in Dilthey’s ideas, the Neo-Kantians, contemporary hermeneutic theories originating from Schleiermacher such as Gadamer’s thought, German existentialism, the Phenomenology of Husserl, Buber and Ebner’s Philosophy of Dialogue, and German Thomism. | ||
| 407 | French Philosophy | 3 Credits. |
| Offers an intensive study of 20th-century French philosophy, focusing on such philosophers as Bergson, Sartre, Camus, Gabriel Marcel, Levi-Strauss, Merleau-Ponty, Foucault, Derrida, Maritain, and Gilson. | ||
| 408 | British Philosophy | 3 Credits. |
| Examines British philosophers’ ideas of realism, the Philosophy of Language, and the Philosophy of Science leading to the birth of Analytic Philosophy, which originated with arguments against contemporary British idealism. Special attention will be given to the ideas of G. E. Moore, Russell, Wittgenstein, Ayer, Ryle, and Austin, contrasted with Popper’s critical rationalism. | ||
| 409 | American Philosophy | 3 Credits. |
| Explores the formative period and the meaning of Neo-Pragmatism, with the advent of American Pragmatism, and the introduction of Analytic Philosophy as challenge to contemporary American Idealism. This course will also examine ideas of representative philosophers such as Peirce, James, Dewey, Quine, Putnam, Davidson, and Rorty. | ||
| 411 | Plato | 3 Credits. |
| A study of Plato’s ideas based on his writings. | ||
| 412 | Aristotle | 3 Credits. |
| A study of Aristotle’s ideas based on his writings. | ||
| 415 | Augustine | 3 Credits. |
| A study of Augustine’s ideas based on his writings. | ||
| 416 | Anselm | 3 Credits. |
| A study of Anselm’s thought based on his writings. | ||
| 416 | Bonaventure | 3 Credits. |
| A study of Bonaventure’s ideas based on his writings. | ||
| 418 | Thomas Aquinas | 3 Credits. |
| A study of Thomas Aquinas’s thought based on his writings. | ||
| 419 | Scotus | 3 Credits. |
| A study of Duns Scotus’s ideas based on his writings. | ||
| 420 | Suarez | 3 Credits. |
| A study of Suarez’s thought based on his writings. | ||
| 421 | Ockham | 3 Credits. |
| A study of Ockham’s ideas based on his writings. | ||
| 422 | Descartes | 3 Credits. |
| A study of Descartes’s ideas based on his writings. | ||
| 423 | Spinoza | 3 Credits. |
| A study of Spinoza’s thought based on his writings. | ||
| 424 | Kant | 3 Credits. |
| An exploration of Kant’s thought based on his writings. | ||
| 425 | Hegel | 3 Credits. |
| A close study of Hegel's thought based on his writings. | ||
| 426 | Kierkegaard | 3 Credits. |
| A study of Kierkegaard's thought based on his writings. | ||
| 427 | Husserl | 3 Credits. |
| A study of Husserl’s thought based on his writings. | ||
| 428 | Heidegger | 3 Credits. |
| A study of Heidegger’s ideas based on his writings. | ||
| 429 | Wittgenstein | 3 Credits. |
| An exploration of Wittgenstein’s early and later ideas through his writings. | ||
| 431 | Studies of Individual Philosophers 1 | 3 Credits. |
| Studies selected ancient philosophers, focusing on the ideas expressed in their writings. | ||
| 432 | Studies of Individual Philosophers 2 | 3 Credits. |
| Studies selected patristic or medieval philosophers, focusing on the ideas expressed in their writings. | ||
| 433 | Studies of Individual Philosophers 3 | 3 Credits. |
| Studies selected modern philosophers, focusing on the ideas expressed in their writings. | ||
| 434 | Studies of Individual Philosophers 4 | 3 Credits. |
| Studies selected contemporary philosophers, focusing on the ideas expressed in their writings. | ||
| 441 | Analytic Philosophy | 3 Credits. |
| A general study of various topics in Anglo-American Analytic Philosophy, which regards analysis and criticism of language as its main philosophical task. This course will examine how logic and metaphysics, or knowledge and meaning, are related, as well as analyze psychological phenomena and features of ethical language, and investigate the importance of language in Analytic Philosophy and its close relation with logic. | ||
| 442 | Hermeneutics | 3 Credits. |
| Examines problems in contemporary hermeneutics raised by such philosophers as Heidegger, Gadamer, and Ricoeur, the origins of hermeneutics (Schleiermacher, Dilthey), science and hermeneutics, hermeneutic recurrence, historicity and the place of language in understanding and symbolic interpretation. | ||
| 443 | Phenomenology | 3 Credits. |
| Explores later phenomenologists’ theories expressed by such philosophers as Husserl, Heidegger, Sartre, Merleau-Ponty, and Levinas, dealing with such problems as consciousness, transcendental reduction, the relation between noema and noesis, the concept of life systems, being and time, physicality, etc. | ||
| 444 | Philosophy of Language | 3 Credits. |
| This course will consider the origin, nature and function of language from the philosophical point of view. | ||
| 462 | Special Issues in Chinese Philosophy | 3 Credits. |
| An intensive study of special issues in Chinese philosophy: major concepts such as Dao or the Way (道), Li or Reason (理), Qi or Spirit (氣), Yin-Yang or the cosmic dual forces (陰陽), Wu-Xing or the Five Elements (五行), Xin-Xing or Heart (心) and nature (性), as well as questions discussed by the Zhu Zi Bai Jia (諸子百家), and questions about philosophical texts in the Sung, Ming or Ching dynasties. | ||
| 464 | Special Issues in Korean Philosophy | 3 Credits. |
| A study of special issues in Korean philosophy: questions discussed in the writings of Korean Buddhist or Taoist philosophers, the Four-Seven Debate among Korean Neo-Confucian thinkers, or questions about the nature of the human, whether human nature is similar to or different from animals’ or plants’ nature, as well as the introduction and development of the doctrines of Wang Yangming or the Neo-Confucianist School of Mind, and arguments over Ye-Hak or Learning of Rites, and problems in Shilhak or Korean Practical Learning. | ||
| 471 | Phenomenology of Religion | 3 Credits. |
| The study of the phenomenology of religion involves applying the philosophical phenomenology of Husserl to the religious domain, to establish the ‘essence of religion’ or its ‘specificity.’ By exploring the writings of scholars in this area, such as Rudolf Otto, Max Scheler, Van der Leeuw, Mircea Eliade, etc, the main category for investigation is the notion of ‘the sacred’ (das Heilige). | ||
| 472 | The Epistemology of Religious Experience | 3 Credits. |
| Examines the epistemological value of religious experiences. This seminar analyses the forms taken by religious experience, explores whether there is any specifically religious form of experience, and if so what its relationship is to modern forms of epistemology | ||
| 475 | Taoist Philosophy | 3 Credits. |
| Explores problems in Taoist philosophy raised by such works as Lao-Tzu’s Tao-te ching (The Way and Its Power) and Chuang-Tzu’s Nan-hua ching (Sources of Chinese Tradition), reading original texts in class. | ||
| 477 | Buddhist Philosophy | 3 Credits. |
| Explores early Buddhists’ philosophical thought, focusing on the theory of the chain of causes or the karma-based theory of metempsychosis. Students are required to consider both philosophical problems of primitive Buddhism expressed in The Pali Canon or Tripitika, as well as thoughts about Mahayana Buddhism or The Great Vehicle. | ||
| 479 | Indian Philosophy | 3 Credits. |
| A selective survey of the distinctive philosophical problems found in Indian philosophy as well as in Buddhist philosophy. It will include an in-depth analysis of the deeper structures of philosophy with such topics as the philosophy of the Vedas, Upanisads, Bhagvad Gita, Samkhya, Yoga, Nyaya, Vaisesika, Mimansa, Vedanta, Jainism, Buddhism (Mahayana or Hinayana Buddhism), Arvaka and also Mahatma Gandhi and other contemporary thinkers. | ||
| 481 | Philosophical Approaches to Education | 3 Credits. |
| Undertakes a philosophical investigation of the ideals, objectives, process and methods of education. This course seeks to establish an educational vision by a study of the philosophical theories focusing on educational phenomenon. | ||
| 482 | Philosophy of Law | 3 Credits. |
| Examines the nature, origin and questions of law, and also covers the general meaning of law and order in the relation between society and human beings through the theories of various philosophers such as the Sophists, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Kant, Hegel, Neo-Kantians, etc. | ||
| 483 | Philosophy of Science | 3 Credits. |
| Proposes a detailed philosophical study of the nature, bases and methods of scientific knowledge in relation to Epistemology. Possible topics include scientific premises, vocabularies, propositions, theoretical structures, positive proof, and induction and probability. It will also examine the scientific law by discussing the structure of scientific explanations and the nature of presupposition as well as scientific value neutrality through analysis of causality. | ||
| 484 | Philosophy of Culture | 3 Credits. |
| Studies philosophical writings related to culture, covering topics such as the concept, thought and value of culture. | ||
| 485 | Philosophy of Art | 3 Credits. |
| Examines metaphysical evaluations, criticisms and standards of aesthetic value. This course also offers an analysis of attitudes toward art and aesthetic objects; a study of the propriety of aesthetic estimation from an epistemological point of view; an investigation of the autonomy of art and the independence of its values in relation to science, religion and morality by analyzing aesthetic concepts and evaluations. | ||
| 486 | Comparative Philosophy | 3 Credits. |
| A comparative study of philosophical systems in different cultures such as Metaphysics in the East and the West, Epistemology and Axiology examined in methodological or thematic aspects. This course will also investigate the possibility of a developmental unification of philosophies. | ||
| 487 | Philosophy of History | 3 Credits. |
| Examines the methodological problems and questions as to whether the Philosophy of History exists as a field of philosophy or not. The main issues in the Philosophy of History are examined, with an introduction to the history of the Philosophy of History, and an investigation of trends of philosophy or theories of thinkers. | ||
| 488 | Political Philosophy | 3 Credits. |
| Explores the essence, objectives, standards and problems of nations and socio-politics from a philosophical point of view. It also covers the essence of politics as a basic human behavior. | ||
| 489 | Environmental Philosophy | 3 Credits. |
| Examines the relation between human beings and the environment, and the philosophical questions related to human perception of the environment, while also discussing the human understanding of the environment and nature in the past in East and West. The aim is to provide the philosophical self-reflection necessary for establishing a right relation between human beings and the environment. | ||
| 490 | Philosophy of Life | 3 Credits. |
| An investigation of the substantial meanings of life seen in the relationship between the natural environment and spiritual culture. This course will also intensively study the theoretical and practical foundations of respect for human and natural life. | ||
| 491 | Philosophy of Economics | 3 Credits. |
| Studies philosophical and anthropological issues in economics, and economic ethics. | ||
| 492 | Philosophy of the Left | 3 Credits. |
| Explores the history and future-oriented prospects of left-wing socialism in the East, especially China and North Korea, as well as making a general study of Marxism. | ||
| 590 | Thesis | 6 Credits. |