Lecture 1 : Why I majored in Philosophy (Ahn, Jaeoh)

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Lecture 1 : Why I majored in Philosophy (Ahn, Jaeoh)

Lecture 1 Why I majored in Philosophy (Ahn Jaeoh).hwp

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A motivation for studying philosophy is based on my childhood experience. In other words, I lost my father when I was six and lived under my widowed mother, so I felt very lonely. My mother ran a bar. It was hard for me to find a quiet time because there were always a lot of customers in the bar and my room was near the bar. My mother was always tired and busy, so she didn't have time to give me any expression‎ of motherly affection. Instead, she bought me anything I needed. There being no husband, her life was so hard that it was almost impossible for her to take care of her two sons in a lovely manner, so my younger brother and I were raised by a grandmother and several maids who worked in the bar.
Especially, it was during the holidays that I had a hard time.
First of all, during Chuseok, a Korean traditional festival, there were endless customers at the bar, and my uncle, who was working with my mother, did not close the store. As a result, our brothers were even more lonely during the holidays.

Children in traditional costume bow thanks in Chuseok Festival in Korea

During school vacation, my mother used to send me back to my hometown, Gyeongju city, and on Lunar New Year's day, I went to the express bus terminal to visit my mother’s family house. Other kids at the bus terminal took their parents' hands and went to their relatives’ houses. I too went to my mother's family house but all alone by myself as a young kid.
My mother didn't like to visit her hometown because she didn't have a husband. Instead, I always visited my parents' houses during vacation or holidays. The reason was that I was the first son of the Ahn family. I was, so to speak, the deputy of my dead father.

At that time, I couldn't express my sorrow in words. Then I happened to learn the word "happiness" in elementary school. Is there really happiness? I had such a question.
But one day I happened to go to a friend's house and there I found happiness. When I saw the family of my friend get together, eat, drink and laugh, I said to myself : "Ah! Happiness is not only in books, but also in reality. Happiness is not a word but a fact!

Why are there both happiness and unhappiness in the world? I thought everyone was as sad as I was, but it wasn't so. Some were happy, some were unhappy.
There was a fundamental difference in the world. I couldn’t understand why. This problem lead me to the deeper reflexions of life : literature, philosophy and religion.

I was aware of the important concept of identity and difference in philosophy in advance.
In other words, the idea of language and object relationships sprouted up at this time. I think this consciousness and concern of life led me to the long journey of pursuing life study including philosophy. There is a fact (indicator) that corresponds to a word (symbol).

image of a happy family

In this process, my future hope has changed. My dream was originally to become a scientist. So when I was in elementary school, I always put together things and experimented a lot at home after school. For example, there was usually a radio kit that was to solder and to assemble. I also bought and read a special magazine called "Electro-Science" at that time. I've made a radio with four transistors, beginning from ore radio.
When I came back from school, I ran straight into soldering radio kit. My grandmother said, "Hey! The soup is getting cold. Eat before you do it." I can remember lively those days.

My mother, Park Yang-chun, was rich in wealth at that time, so she bought me everything I wanted. Next, I did various chemical experiments such as burning charcoal gas produced by heating charcoal in a test tube with alcohol. My father, Ahn Seok-ju, was discharged as an engineering captain as a Korean War veteran. Perhaps because I inherited my father's blood, I have a hobby in making and repairing things. My father hid a small dynamite-like explosive device in the wall-closet. After his death I found it, tried pulling up one of its rings, and suddenly got scared of exploding, so I took it out of my house and threw a box of explosives into the sea near Jagalchi Market in Busan.

But my scientific and engineering hobby gradually changed to literature. The reason was unhappiness and loneliness.
I was originally outgoing and sociable but because of solitude I became gradually introvert. Instead of gadget hobby and playing sports, to read a literature played a great role in my daily life.

Small children do chemical experiments.

My mother was also very good at learning and she was a talented student in Gyeongju-City during the Japanese Colonial Period. My mother read a lot when she was taking a break from her business. When I was in middle school, my mother and I used to read "Hwang Soon-won's Complete Works" together. "Hwang Soon-won“ is a representative novelist in Korea.
My interests gradually moved to literature, psychology, religion and philosophy.

So I planned to major in English literature when I was in high school, but after failing to enter the humanities department of Seoul National University, which is the most famous university in Korea, I went to the Korean Foreign Language University and majored in English. There was no English literature department in that university like other universities, but there was an English department instead. The late professor Lee Young-gul taught English poetry when I was in college. I used to get A grades for English poetry and English novels.

When I was in college, I met with many friends. In my boarding house, friends who drank with me used to come and sleep with me together. However, my close friends left me one by one because of their life businesses. Therefore I also went to the army service not long after I entered the college.

After returning to the college, I thought about English literature as my major again. I still loved English literature, but
as a science English literature had a difficult problem. It lacks system and methode as a science.
I thought there was no system of English literature.
For example, Shakespeare alone is like a huge island, but there are also such big islands in English literature. T. S. Eliot is for example another big island in it.

Romeo and Juliet, Balcony scene

English literature is like a galaxy of great writers. However, it is impossible to find any systematic and holistic nature of its literature.

I wanted the integrity or systematic totality of my studies. That's why I turned to philosophy. Philosophy seemed to have the unity of science.
Though I majored in English literature in foreign university I studied Western philosophy as a minor. Back then, the teachers of philosophy were Professor Son Bong-ho, Professor Kang Sung-wi, Professor Jang Wook, and Professor Lee Ki-sang. They were all retired as I was older.

Lee Ki-sang, an honorary professor in Korean Foreign Language University, who specialized in Heidgger’s philosophy is now my Facebook friend.

Dr. Prof. Lee, Kisang, honorary professor in HUF university in Korea, Seoul

Introduction to Heidegger’s philosophy by Prof. Lee, Kisang

When I went abroad to study Hegel’s philosophy in Germany, I had Professor K. Duesing in the University of Cologne and Professor M. Baum in the University of Buppertal who helped me with my last degree, Doctor of Philosophy. Both of them are masters of Hegel’s philosophy and German idealism philosophy.

Prof. K. Düsing, University Cologne

City Cologne, Dom church.

In Germany 1989, I first went the City Köln(=Cologne) in order to learn Hegel’s philosophy by Prof. K. Düsing in the doctor’s course. Prof. K. Düsing was the top class scholar in the realm of development history of the young Hegel’s philosophy. But I failed to achieve doctorate dissertation under Düsing, because he was so difficult in permitting a doctorate in the realm of development history of the young Hegel’s philosophy. He gave me though several doctoral themes, one of which I had developed into Phd dissertation. Even if I had not succeeded in achieving doctor degree by Prof. K. Düsing, I have been always thankful for his help to give me doctoral theme. The theme that I was given by Düsing and had proceeded was my doctoral paper title: Vom Ideal zur Reflexion (Die Entwicklung von Hegels Denken bis zum Ende der Frankfurter Zeit).
With this doctoral thesis I researched about a year under Prof. M. Baum in the University of Buppertal. City Wuppertal is not far from City Köln(=Cologne) around 20 kilometer from it. In Germany it is very easy to change one’s college to another, because all the colleges are not private but public.
With a simple document man can move school.
Therefore I had accomplished doctor title with the subject which was given by Düsing under the guide of Baum.

Prof. M.Baum , Honorary professor in University Wuppertal, Germany.

City Wuppertal, Suspension Railway

Professor Baum (Manfred Baum), who was my Doktorvater.
Prof. Baum is famous for Hegel’s philosophy and German idealism philosophy.

While studying philosophy, I came to know God and Jesus Christ. After I finished graduate school at Seoul National University, I gave a lecture on introduction to philosophy at a baptist theological seminary, and I turned to Christianity because of the prayers and pleas of the seminary students who were learning philosophy from me at that time, and my philosophical talent has been burning ever since. Although now I run a teaching institute for a living and earn money mainly through English education, philosophy is my eternal passion.

My quest for the happiness was solved in religion, that is, in the providence of the almighty God. But in faith my philosophical ability has been enriched and deepened. Generally men think that philosophy is the opposition of faith or religion. But in my case faith in God gives true awareness of the knowledge and especially the philosophical knowledge.

I hold two books, "The Birth of Logic" and "Youth Hegel, Philosophy of Unification". I have written a total of 10 books.