Professor of Philosophy, Alvernia University
www.alvernia.edu/faculty-staff/bongrae-seok
Neag Professor of Philosophy (2014 - 2016)
Lindback Award for Teaching Excellence (2020)
Winner, Charles Fu Foundation ISCP Essay Contest (2019)
President, Association of Chinese Philosophers in America (2018-20)
APA Program Chair, Korean Philosophy Association
Editorial Board, Korean Society for Cognitive Science (2015-16)
Editorial Board, Korean Association of Feminist Philosophers
Specialization: Neuroscience, Moral Psychology, Asian Philosophy,
NeuroEthics, NeuroAesthetics (Music), Artificial Intelligence,
Space & Emptiness (Relativity/Quantum Physics)
Email: [email protected]
Lin
www.alvernia.edu/faculty-staff/bongrae-seok
Neag Professor of Philosophy (2014 - 2016)
Lindback Award for Teaching Excellence (2020)
Winner, Charles Fu Foundation ISCP Essay Contest (2019)
President, Association of Chinese Philosophers in America (2018-20)
APA Program Chair, Korean Philosophy Association
Editorial Board, Korean Society for Cognitive Science (2015-16)
Editorial Board, Korean Association of Feminist Philosophers
Specialization: Neuroscience, Moral Psychology, Asian Philosophy,
NeuroEthics, NeuroAesthetics (Music), Artificial Intelligence,
Space & Emptiness (Relativity/Quantum Physics)
Email: [email protected]
Lin
Bongrae Seok is Professor of Philosophy at Alvernia University in Reading, Pennsylvania, USA. He received his Ph. D. in philosophy from the University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ). He studied at the philosophy and cognitive science (psychology and neuroscience) programs at the University of Arizona and wrote his dissertation on philosophical implications of cognitive modularity (self-contained cognitive specialization) from the perspective of language, perception, and reasoning. He also studied the functional specialization of visual and motor memory in the brain for his postdoctoral research at the University of Arizona (neuroscience program) before he joined Alvernia University. His primary research interests lie in cognitive and comparative philosophy of mind and moral psychology, philosophy of neuroscience and AI, moral neuroscience, neuroethics and neuroasesthetics. In his recent books, Future of Artificial Intelligence and the Buddha Algorithm (Philosophic 2023) Naturalization, Human Flourishing, and Asian Philosophy: Owen Flanagan and Beyond (Routledge 2020), Moral Psychology of Confucian Shame: Shame of Shamelessness (Rowman and Littlefield 2016), and Embodied Moral Psychology and Confucian Philosophy (Lexington 2013), he develops an interdisciplinary approach to moral psychology from the viewpoint of embodied moral emotions (empathy, shame, and flourishing) and Asian philosophy (Korean and Chinese Confucianism). In his articles “Autistic Moral Agency and Integrative Neuroethics,” “Diversity and Unity of Modularity”, “The Emotional Mind and The Moral Mind”, “Mencius’s Vertical Faculties and Moral Nativism”, and “Neuroscience, Moral Sentimentalism, and Confucian Philosophy”, he integrates cognitive modularity and embodied cognition in a broad scope of psychology, neuroscience, and philosophy. He also published articles on phenomenology and perception of music such as “Cognitive Science and the Neuroaesthetics of Musical Chills” and embodied perception of space such as “Traces of the Body in Space: Embodied Metaphor of Menus and Lists” from the interdisciplinary perspective of space cognition and neuroaesthetics. Regarding AI and philosophy, he is preparing articles that integrate AI, Art and Philosophy such as “The Uncharted World of AI Art: Music and AI [artificial intelligence]” and “Marginalization and De-Marginalization: Future of Robotic AI and Buddhism.” His current work focuses on interdisciplinary topics (including embodied cognition and emotion, affective moral intuition, empathic nociception, moral psychology of autism and psychopathy, and aesthetic and embodied experience of music) that bring philosophy and neuroscience to the forefront of cognitive science. He is a recipient of the Neag Professorship (2014−2016), the Lindback Foundation Award for Teaching Excellence (2020), and the Charles Fu Foundation ISCP Essay Award (Winner) (2019). He is program chair of the APA (American Philosophical Association) affiliated group of NAKPA (North American Korean Philosophical Association). He is a former president of ACPA (Association of Chinese Philosophers in America), a former member of the editorial board of KSCS (the Korean Society for Cognitive Science), and a current member of the editorial board of KAFP (the Korean Association of Feminist Philosophers).
Major Publications
2023: Future of Artificial Intelligence and the Buddha Algorithm, Seoul, South Korea: Philosophic
2023: “Philosophy of Mind and Moral Psychology in Korean Neo-Confucianism” APA Studies on Asian and Asian American Philosophers and Philosophies, Vol. 22, No. 2.
2023: "The Uncharted World of AI Art: Music and AI [Artificial Intelligence]" In Venturing into the Uncharted World of Aesthetics. (pp. 68-87). (Eds. Linda Ardito and John Murungi) Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
2023: "Mencius and Contemporary Cognitive Science” in Dao Companion to the Philosophy of Mencius, Springer (Edited by Yang Xiao and Kim-Chong Chong, Springer) https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-27620-0_29
2022: “Moral Psychology of the Confucian Heart-Mind and Interpretations of Ceyinzhixin [the heart-mind of pity and compassion].” Dao, a Journal of Comparative Philosophy. Volume 21, p. 37–59.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11712-021-09814-8
2021: "The Emotional Mind and The Moral Mind." Journal of Philosophy of Emotion 2, no. 2: 17-24.
2021: “The Emotions in Early Chinese Philosophy” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford University, edited by Edward N. Zalta (Senior Research Scholar, Philosophy Department, Stanford University) https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/emotions-chinese/
2020: Naturalism, Human Flourishing, and Asian Philosophy: Owen Flanagan and Beyond. (Routledge) ISBN-10: 0367350246 ISBN-13: 978-0367350246
“Introduction: Human Flourishing and Naturalized Asian Philosophy” https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780429329838-1/introduction-human-flourishing-naturalized-asian-philosophy-bongrae-seok?context=ubx
“Flanagan, Haidt, and Mencius: Naturalized Ethics and Modularity of Morals” https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780429329838-9/flanagan-haidt-mencius-naturalized-ethics-modularity-morals-bongrae-seok
2020 “Autistic Moral Agency and Integrative Neuroethics” in Does Neuroscience have Normative Implications? Springer (edited by Geoff Holtzman and Elizabeth Hildt) 187-211 https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-56134-5_10
2019: “Cognitive Science and the Neuroaesthetics of Musical Chills: Embodied Perception and Evaluation of Musical Excitement” The Cognitive Aspects of Aesthetic Experience – Selected Problems. Edited by Andrej Démuth, Berlin, Peter Lang. https://www.peterlang.com/view/9783631782767/content/12_chapter07.xhtml
2017: Moral Psychology of Confucian Shame: Shame of Shamelessness (Rowman and Littlefield International) https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781783485192/Moral-Psychology-of-Confucian-Shame-Shame-of-Shamelessness
2017: "Moral Agency, Autonomy, and Heteronomy in early Confucian Philosophy," Philosophy Compass. DOI: 10.1111/phc3.12460 https://compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/phc3.12460
2015 “Proto-Empathy and Nociceptive Mirror Emotion: Mencius’s Embodied Moral Psychology” in The Philosophical Challenge from China (edited by Brian Bruya) (pp. 59-97) MIT press.
https://mitpress.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.7551/mitpress/9780262028431.001.0001/upso-9780262028431-chapter-3
2013: Embodied Moral Psychology and Confucian Philosophy (Lexington Books, Roman and Littlefield). https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780739148938/Embodied-Moral-Psychology-and-Confucian-Philosophy
2013: “Neuroscience, Moral Sentimentalism, and Confucian Philosophy: Moral Psychology of the Body and Emotion,” APA Newsletter (American Philosophical Association Newsletter), 13-1, 3-8. https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.apaonline.org/resource/resmgr/asian_newsletter/asianv13n1.pdf
2008: “Mencius’s Vertical Faculties and Moral Nativism” Asian Philosophy (Vol. 18-1, March 2008).
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09552360701880560?journalCode=casp20
2007: “Change Contradiction and Overconfidence: Chinese Philosophy and Cognitive Peculiarities of Asians” Dao, A Journal of Comparative Philosophy (6 (3), 221-237Autumn, 2007 https://journals.scholarsportal.info/details/15403009/v06i0003/221_ccaocpacpoa.xml&sub=all
2006: “Diversity and Unity of Modularity” Cognitive Science 30 (March/April, 2006) https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1207/s15516709cog0000_52
Major Publications
2023: Future of Artificial Intelligence and the Buddha Algorithm, Seoul, South Korea: Philosophic
2023: “Philosophy of Mind and Moral Psychology in Korean Neo-Confucianism” APA Studies on Asian and Asian American Philosophers and Philosophies, Vol. 22, No. 2.
2023: "The Uncharted World of AI Art: Music and AI [Artificial Intelligence]" In Venturing into the Uncharted World of Aesthetics. (pp. 68-87). (Eds. Linda Ardito and John Murungi) Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
2023: "Mencius and Contemporary Cognitive Science” in Dao Companion to the Philosophy of Mencius, Springer (Edited by Yang Xiao and Kim-Chong Chong, Springer) https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-27620-0_29
2022: “Moral Psychology of the Confucian Heart-Mind and Interpretations of Ceyinzhixin [the heart-mind of pity and compassion].” Dao, a Journal of Comparative Philosophy. Volume 21, p. 37–59.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11712-021-09814-8
2021: "The Emotional Mind and The Moral Mind." Journal of Philosophy of Emotion 2, no. 2: 17-24.
2021: “The Emotions in Early Chinese Philosophy” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford University, edited by Edward N. Zalta (Senior Research Scholar, Philosophy Department, Stanford University) https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/emotions-chinese/
2020: Naturalism, Human Flourishing, and Asian Philosophy: Owen Flanagan and Beyond. (Routledge) ISBN-10: 0367350246 ISBN-13: 978-0367350246
“Introduction: Human Flourishing and Naturalized Asian Philosophy” https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780429329838-1/introduction-human-flourishing-naturalized-asian-philosophy-bongrae-seok?context=ubx
“Flanagan, Haidt, and Mencius: Naturalized Ethics and Modularity of Morals” https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780429329838-9/flanagan-haidt-mencius-naturalized-ethics-modularity-morals-bongrae-seok
2020 “Autistic Moral Agency and Integrative Neuroethics” in Does Neuroscience have Normative Implications? Springer (edited by Geoff Holtzman and Elizabeth Hildt) 187-211 https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-56134-5_10
2019: “Cognitive Science and the Neuroaesthetics of Musical Chills: Embodied Perception and Evaluation of Musical Excitement” The Cognitive Aspects of Aesthetic Experience – Selected Problems. Edited by Andrej Démuth, Berlin, Peter Lang. https://www.peterlang.com/view/9783631782767/content/12_chapter07.xhtml
2017: Moral Psychology of Confucian Shame: Shame of Shamelessness (Rowman and Littlefield International) https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781783485192/Moral-Psychology-of-Confucian-Shame-Shame-of-Shamelessness
2017: "Moral Agency, Autonomy, and Heteronomy in early Confucian Philosophy," Philosophy Compass. DOI: 10.1111/phc3.12460 https://compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/phc3.12460
2015 “Proto-Empathy and Nociceptive Mirror Emotion: Mencius’s Embodied Moral Psychology” in The Philosophical Challenge from China (edited by Brian Bruya) (pp. 59-97) MIT press.
https://mitpress.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.7551/mitpress/9780262028431.001.0001/upso-9780262028431-chapter-3
2013: Embodied Moral Psychology and Confucian Philosophy (Lexington Books, Roman and Littlefield). https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780739148938/Embodied-Moral-Psychology-and-Confucian-Philosophy
2013: “Neuroscience, Moral Sentimentalism, and Confucian Philosophy: Moral Psychology of the Body and Emotion,” APA Newsletter (American Philosophical Association Newsletter), 13-1, 3-8. https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.apaonline.org/resource/resmgr/asian_newsletter/asianv13n1.pdf
2008: “Mencius’s Vertical Faculties and Moral Nativism” Asian Philosophy (Vol. 18-1, March 2008).
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09552360701880560?journalCode=casp20
2007: “Change Contradiction and Overconfidence: Chinese Philosophy and Cognitive Peculiarities of Asians” Dao, A Journal of Comparative Philosophy (6 (3), 221-237Autumn, 2007 https://journals.scholarsportal.info/details/15403009/v06i0003/221_ccaocpacpoa.xml&sub=all
2006: “Diversity and Unity of Modularity” Cognitive Science 30 (March/April, 2006) https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1207/s15516709cog0000_52