Faculty

Dr. Bongrae Seok

Associate Professor of Philosophy

Educational Background

• Ph.D. Philosophy, University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ)

• MA Philosophy, University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ)

Dr. Bongrae Seok, associate professor of philosophy, teaches major areas of philosophy (Intro, logic, Ethics, Epistemology, Modern and Contemporary Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind/Psychology, Philosophy of Law).  He researches in philosophy of mind and psychology and Asian philosophy.  

With his background in neuroscience (post-doctoral research) and psychology (graduate work), he specializes in the philosophical discussions on moral psychology and moral cognition, decision game theory, and ethics and decision-making.  He also researches in Chinese Confucian philosophy and Neo-Confucianism on the nature of moral emotion and virtue.  He teaches in a leadership course in Alvernia PhD Leadership program and philosophy of law (law and justice and ethics and law) regularly in the undergraduate pre-law track.

In addition to philosophy, he studies the classical art and music and gives lectures and presentations in local museums.

About Dr. Seok:

• BA in Philosophy (Minor in Aesthetics) (Seoul National University)

• M.A. in philosophy, Minor in Cognitive Science (Univ. of Arizona, Tucson, AZ)

• Ph. D. in Philosophy (Modularity of Mind, Encapsulation by Nature (Univ. of Arizona)

• Adjunct Professor (Department of Philosophy, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ.)

• PostDoctoral Research Fellow in Neural Systems, Memory and Aging (Univ. of Arizona)

• Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Alvernia University (Reading Pennsylvania)
• Associate Professor of Philosophy, Alvernia University (Reading, Pennsylvania)

Areas of Specialization

• Philosophy of Mind/Psychology/Cognitive science

• Philosophy of Science (Neuroscience)

• Moral Psychology (Emotion, Shame, Reciprocity, Moral Decision-Making)
• Theory of Knowledge and Cognitive Style
• Metaphysics of Mind and Consciousness
• Metaphysics of Empty Nothingness
• Asian Philosophy (Chinese Philosophy, Buddhism and Hindu Philosophy)

• Modern Philosophy and Contemporary Philosophy

• Philosophy of Biology/Medicine

• Ethics: Virtue Ethics and Character, Medical Ethics, Business & Professional Ethics, and Environmental Ethics

• Philosophy of Law

• Psychology & Cognitive Science

• Cognitive Neuropsychology

• Psycholinguistics

• Functional Specialization of Cognition (Modularity)

Books

• In Preparation - Embodied Moral Psychology: Confucian Moral Philosophy as a Theory of Embodies Moral Emotion, Lexington (Rowman & Littlefield)
• In Preparation - The Embodied Mind, Cognitive Science and Human Experience, (F. Varela, E. Thompson, and E. Rosch) a New Translation, Seoul, Korea: GimYoungSa Publishing Company
• 2006: Philosophy, The Intellectual Journey. Mason OH Wadsworth. (Custom Textbook)

• 2003: Logic and Psycho-Logic, Seo Kwang Sa Publishing Company, Seoul, South Korea. (One of the Academic Books of the Year Award)

• 2002: Daniel Dennett (Brook & Ross eds. 2002), Seoul, Mind and Body Publishing Company.

• 1998: Philosophical Applications of Cognitive Science, (A. Goldman, 1993), Seoul: SeoKwang-Sa Publishing Company

• 1997: The Embodied Mind, Cognitive Science and Human Experience, (F. Varela, E. Thompson, and E. Rosch, 1991) Translation. Seoul, Korea:Okto Publishing Company.1992: Matter and Consciousness, (P. M. Churchland 1988), Translation. Seoul, Korea: SeoKwang-SaPublishing Co.

Recent Articles

• In progress: "Emotion Embodied Moral Cognition and Confucian Moral Psychology" in The Philosophical Challenges from China (ed. Brian Bruya) MIT press
• 2011:  Entries in the Encyclopedia of Global Justice, Springer (in press)
  • Fallacy of Composition
  • Virtue Ethics
  • Collective Decision Problem
  • Moral Reasoning
  • Prisoner's Dilemma
  • Confucianism
  • Xunzi
  • Laozi
• 2011: "Emotion and Moral Psychology in Early Confucian Philosophy" Journal of Chinese Philosophy and Culture (November 2011, in press)
• 2010: "Emotion and Moral Psychology in Early Confucian Philosophy" Journal of Chinese Philosophy and Culture (November 2010, in Press)
• 2010: "Moral Reasoning," "Collective Decision Problem," "Reciprocity," "Prisoner's Dilemma," "Collective Decision Problem," "Confucianism," "Xunzi" and "Laozi" Encyclopedia of Global Justice, Springer (in press)
• 2009: “Franciscan Themes in Leadership Philosophy” AFCU Journal Vol. 6-1, pg. 42-51 (January, 2009)

• 2008: “Mencius’s Vertical Faculties and Moral Nativism” Asian Philosophy (Vol. 18-1, March 2008).

• 2007: "Change, Contradiction, and Overconfidence; Chinese Philosophy and Cognitive Peculiarities of Asians" Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy (Vol. VI-3, Autumn 2007)

• 2006: “Diversity and Unity of Modularity” Cognitive Science 30 (March/April, 2006)

• 2005: “Review of Goldin’s Xunzi's Philosophy” Dao, A Journal of Comparative Philosophy (vol IV, No. 2, Summer, 2005)

• 2004: “Review of Gardner’s Zhu Xi’s Reading of Analects: Canon, Commentary, and the Classical Tradition” Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy, Vol. IV, No. 1 (2004 Winter)

• 2001: "Linguistic Productivity and Chomskyan Grammar" Lingua Humanitas, Seoul, Korea

Recent Conference Presentations

• 2012: "What is Qing? A Situationist interpretation" APA (the American philosophical Association) Conference, Pacific Division (Washington, WA 4/7/2012)
• 2012: "Buren and Ren: Mencius's Theory of Moral Emotion" APA (the American Philosophical Association) Conference, Central Division (Chicago, 2/17/2012)
• 2011: Comment and Review of "Virtue, Education, and Liberty" (David Elstein) APA (the American Philosophical Association) Conference, Eastern Division, (Washington DC, 12/28/2011)
• 2011: "Embodied Ren in Confucianism," in the Columbia Society for Comooparative Philosophy (Invited Lecture) Columbia University, (New York, 11/11/2011)
• 2011: Does Mencius Care? The Heart of Compassion and Care, APA (the American Philosophical Association) Conference, Pacific Division, (San Diego, 2011)
• 2011: Emphathy, Moral Agency, and Autism, Felician Ethics Conference. (Felician College, rutherford, N.J. 4/30/2011)
• 2011: Sensual Experience of Non-Sensuous Things. Third Annual Geo-aesthetics Conference
• 2010: Mencius's Ceyinzhixin (the heart of compassion) and the moral psychology of empathy, The 28th Annual Meeting of the Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy (SAGP) with the Society for the Study of Islamic Philosophy and Science (SSIPS) (New York. 10/15 -17/2010)
• 2010: Moral Psychology of Korean Neo-Confucianism, the Four Seven Debate and ToeGye's Dualism, The 28th Annual Meeting of the Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy (SAGP) with the Society for the Study of Islamic Philosophy and Science (SSIPS) (New York. 10/15 - 17/2010)
• 2010: "Ethics and Scientific Research" - Panel Discussion 45th MAALACT (Middle Atlantic Association of Lieberal Arts Chemistry Teachers) Conference, Session on educational issues and ethics, 11/6/2010
• 2010: Character of Situation? A Confucian Response to Situational Social Psychology, APA (the American Philosophical Association) Conference, Pacific Division, (San Francisco 3/31 - 4/4/2010)
• 2010: One and the Others, Other-Regarding Orientation of Confucian Moral Psychology, APA (the American Philosophical Association) Conference, Central Division, (Chicago, 2/18/2010)
• 2010: Character or Situation? A Confucian Response to Situational Social Psychology, APA (the American Philosophiocal Association) Conference, Pacific Division, (San Francisco 3/21-4/4, 2010)
• 2009: Emotion and Embodied Cognition, APA (the American Philosophical Association) Conference, Eastern Division, (New York, 12/27-30/2009)
• 2009: Confucian Virtue, Arete or not, The 5th International Conference on Ancient and Medieval Philosophy, Fordham University (New York, 10/16-18/2009)

• 2009: “Is shame a virtue? Moral psychology of shame and virtue.” Felician Ethics Conference. (Rutherford, N.J. 4/18/2009)

• 2009: “Cognitive Science and Confucian Reciprocity” AAS (Association for Asian Studies) Conference, Chicago 2009 3/26-29/2009)

• 2009: “Emotion and Moral Psychology in Early Chinese Philosophy” Columbia Neo-Confucian Group (2/6/2009)

• 2008: Comment and Review of “Moral Agency and Applied Ethics in Asian and Comparative Thought” APA (the American Philosophical Association) Conference, Eastern Division, (Philadelphia 12/28-30/2008)

• 2008: “Shame and Self in Ancient China and Ancient Greece” The 4th International Conference on Ancient and Medieval Philosophy, Fordham University, (New York. 10/24 - 26/2008)

• 2008: “Franciscan Themes in Leadership Philosophy: The Power Based Leadership and Service Based Leadership” AFCU Symposium (Reading, PA 6/5-6/7/2008)

• 2008: “Confucian Error: Emotion in Confucian Moral Philosophy and Contemporary Moral Psychology” Annual Meeting of APA (the American Philosophical Association, Central Division), (Chicago, 4/17/2008).

• 2008: “How Modular is ToM (theory of mind)?” SSPP Conference, the 100th Annual Meeting of the Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology, (New Orleans, 3/20-22/2007).

• 2007: “Empty Heart and Metaphysical Emotion of the Neo-Confucian Mind" The Fourth International Conference on Ancient and Medieval Philosophy, Fordham University, (New York. 10/21/2007)

• 2007: “Non-Taxomic Reasoning and Conflict Resolution in Chinese Philosophy” the 24th International Social Philosophy Conference, hosted by (NASSP) North American Society for Social Philosophy (Lancaster PA, 7/12-14).

• 2007: "Folk Psychology and External Attribution" Annual Meeting of SPPS (Southern Society of Philosophy and Psychology) Atlanta, GA (4/6/2007)

• 2006: "Mencius and Xunzi's Moral Psychology" Annual Meeting of APA Eastern Division (Washington DC., December 2006).

• 2006: "Mencius Philosophy of Mind and Morality" International Conference on Ancient and Medieval Philosophy (Fordham University, New York, October 2006).

• 2006: “Do Animals use Concepts?” SSPP Conference (the 98th Annual Meeting of the Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology), Charleston SC.

• 2005: “Availability Thesis and Epistemic Fatalism,” EPPA (Eastern Pennsylvania Philosophical Association) conference (April, 2005)

• 2004: “Can Aesthetic Consciousness save the Environment?” – Review of Dr. M. Lucht’s “Does Kant have anything to teach us about environmental ethics?” EPPA (Eastern Pennsylvania Philosophical Association) conference (October, 2004)

• 2004: “Learning-related responses in Go/NoGo neurons in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex,” Society of Neuroscience, Abstract 34: 324.1 (withF.A.W. Wilson, P.A. Greenberg, and Y. Ma).

Museum Presentations

• Iconography and History of Indian Art , Allentown Art Museum (Allentown, PA) (4/30/2007)

• Images of Buddha, Allentown Art Museum (Allentown, PA) (10/4/2006)

• Asian Culture and Art, Reading Public Museum (Reading, PA) (1/17/2006)

• Indian Art; General Overview, Allentown Art Museum (Allentown PA) (7/28/2005).

• Indian Art: Artistic Forms and Religious Background, Allentown Art Museum (Allentown, PA) (1/3/2005)

• Indian Arts: Hindu Gods Goddesses, Reading Public Museum (Reading, PA) (12/2/2004)

• Asian Art and Symbolism, Reading Public Museum (Reading, PA) (3/30/2004).

Currently working on:

• Human Reasoning and Cultural Influence

• Moral Psychology of Confucinanism Mencius and Xunzi

• Emotion and Moral Psychology

• Modularity of ToM (Theory of Mind) in Early Childhood: Association of Executive Function (EF) and ToM (Theory of Mind)

• Animal Concept and Reversal Discrimination Tasks

• Modularity and Consciousness

• History of Faculty Psychology (From Plato to Gall)

• Asian Art and Philosophy

• NeuroPhysiology of Spatial Memory in Hippocampus and Prefrontal Cortex

• CyberSpace and Intellectual Property

• Ontology and Perception of Space (Philosophy, Mathematics, Physics, and Psychology
• Metaphysics of Empty Nothingness
• Virtue Epistemology and Cognitive Style

Courses

• Introduction to Philosophy

• Introduction to Logic

• Minds, Brains and Computers

• Contemporary Philosophy of Mind

• Modern & Contemporary Philosophy

• Problems of Philosophy

• Eastern Philosophy and Religion

• Philosophy of Moral Psychology

• Mind and Morality

• Ethics of Cyberspace

• Law and Justice

• Dangerous Knowledge: Ethics and Technology

• Ethical Decision-Making in Business
• Ethics and Game Theory
• Moral Blindness
• NeuroEthics
• Ethics and Law

• Moral Leadership, Organizational Professional Ethics (Master)

• Ethics and Decision-Making (Ph.D.)
• Ethics and Game