Park So Jeong

Biography

"PARK So Jeong received her doctorate in Chinese philosophy from Yonsei University (Seoul, Korea) in 2002, with a dissertation on Zhuangzi's philosophy of art. Her dissertation aims to clarify the aesthetic features of Chinese thought and to explore the Zhuangzi as a repository of the spiritual core of Chinese art. In her dissertation she argues that 1) Chinese thought best reveals its true characteristics when interpreted from an aesthetic perspective, and 2) musical thought plays a key role in the Chinese art history. In addition, she examines how traditional Chinese musical thought was developed in terms of emotion, harmony, and music, especially from the pre-Qin period through the Weijin period and to Tang dynasty. She has published widely on various issues in Daoist and Confucian thought. For example, she has analyzed ‘yin sheng xiang he (音聲相和)’ and ‘dayin xi sheng (大音希聲)’ in the Laozi (老子) as containing a seminal idea of Daoist musical thought, and she has examined the idea of ‘yu min tong le (與民同樂)’ in the Mencius (孟子) as a Confucian response to the Mohist criticism of Music. In addition, she has discussed harmony and conflict between Confucian and Daoist musical thought, and she has also investigated the musical theories of Weijin period focusing on the works of Ji Kang(嵇康) and Ruan Ji(阮籍). Since 2007, she has gradually extended her research topics to broader issues such as “A Comparative Study of the Aesthetic viewpoints in John Dewey and Zhuangzi” (published as an article in East Asian Studies in 2008). Last year, she published another article entitled “韓國《莊子》研究﹕回顧與反思 [A Review and Prospect on Zhuangzi Studies in Korea]” in China as a representative of Korean scholars in Chinese thought. Before she moved to Singapore in 2007, she had worked as a Lecturing Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Kon-Kuk University in Korea for three years. In addition, from 1999 to 2007, she had taught various modules in Chinese Philosophy, especially Confucianism, Daoism, and Philosophy of Art, as a Lecturer in Yensei University, Korea National University of Arts, and Seoul National University of Education. From March 2007 to July 2010, she had conducted independent research as a Visiting Scholar at the National University of Singapore (NUS) on the comparative study of Zhuangzi and Dewey. Specifically, she wrote a paper comparing their views on the growth of experience, and presented it at theⅩⅩⅡ. World Congress of Philosophy held in Seoul, Korea in 2008. At present, she is working on the comparative study of musical thought in early China and ancient Greece, and revising Zhuangzian musical thought ."

Research Interest

Chinese Philosophy and Aesthetics; Comparative Philosophy and Religion; Musical Thought in Ancient China