Hi, I'm Will, a philosopher based in Incheon, South Korea. My research focuses on Korean Neo-Daoism, particularly how Neo-Daoist ideas were received and transformed by Goryeo thinkers. I argue that Korean Daoism represents a philosophically original development in its own right, not merely a footnote to the Chinese tradition.
My work centers on Yi Gyubo (1169–1241), who creatively engages Guo Xiang’s doctrine of spontaneous self-generation. I characterize Yi’s thought as “affective Neo-Daoism”: a grounded phenomenology of Daoist acceptance that confronts the costs of existence, illness, aging, and grief, from within a suffering body, rather …
Hi, I'm Will, a philosopher based in Incheon, South Korea. My research focuses on Korean Neo-Daoism, particularly how Neo-Daoist ideas were received and transformed by Goryeo thinkers. I argue that Korean Daoism represents a philosophically original development in its own right, not merely a footnote to the Chinese tradition.
My work centers on Yi Gyubo (1169–1241), who creatively engages Guo Xiang’s doctrine of spontaneous self-generation. I characterize Yi’s thought as “affective Neo-Daoism”: a grounded phenomenology of Daoist acceptance that confronts the costs of existence, illness, aging, and grief, from within a suffering body, rather than from the idealized perspective of the sage. My dissertation defends this as a genuine philosophical contribution.
I’m currently completing my PhD in philosophy at Sogang University, where I also serve as an editorial assistant on two forthcoming Oxford and Routledge volumes on Korean philosophy. My broader interests include Goguryeo tomb murals, mountain spirit worship, Confucian ritual music, and even the computer game Fallout. This research has taken me from Seoul to Rome, Hong Kong, Taipei, and Budapest, deepening my interest in how philosophical traditions transform as they travel.
