Traditional Korean Thought

At the crossroads of Northeast Asia, South Korea provides a critical vantage point for viewing changes in the region. This comprehensive review of the past quarter century covers its strategic thinking in regard to China, Japan, Russia, regionalism, and reunification.

During its five thousand years of history and culture, Korea has been attacked and invaded by other countries eight hundred times. Despite all its past tragedies, Korea has risen from the ashes and become one of the ten strongest economic countries in the world-all because its people have kept their thoughts, culture, and roots alive. In Korean Thought and Culture: A New Introduction, Dr. Chai-Shin Yu shares the results of his extensive research. He offers careful interpretation of historical facts and in-depth exploration of past events, while determining whether Old-Korean thought culture has always existed independently or arose initially through the sole influence of China. A seasoned lecturer on Korean culture and thought, Dr. Yu relies on his professional experience to provide a comprehensive study of Korean and East Asian thought and culture, the influence of Korea on Japanese culture, Korean philosophers, and other Asian and Christian thoughts and cultures. One hundred years since the Japanese invasion and sixty years after the attack of North Korea, Korean Thought and Culture: A New Introduction offers a new perspective on long-held beliefs and challenges anyone to take a new look at Korean thought and the history and culture of this fascinating country.

With contributions by some of the best and most significant contemporary Korean philosophers, this important volume provides an overview of the different debates, problems, figures and periods that make up traditional Korean Buddhist and Confucian thought. The book highlights the richness and diversity of Korean philosophy as a vital and ongoing philosophical endeavour.

This book is a collection of essays written by Korean political theorists addressing the study of contemporary Korean political thought on the premise that such study should be carried out with a post-Eurocentric approach. The negative effects brought about by the domination of Western-centrism are pervasive in academic disciplines as well as in everyday life of South Korea. This book outlines three strategic approaches to combating Western-centrism: (1) theorizing contemporary Korean politics from a Korean perspective, (2) the Koreanization of Western political thought, and (3) modernizing traditional East Asian political thought. These essays examine and explore the validity of the three strategic approaches with the objective of coping with Western-centrism in Korean political theory. These contributing authors share a concern about Western-centrism, but approach it from different directions and at different layers.