윌리엄 길버트 · 서강대학교 철학과
I’m a philosopher based in Incheon, South Korea, completing a PhD at Sogang University. I work on Korean Daoism, how Neo-Daoist ideas arrived on the peninsula, and how they became something original in the hands of Goryeo thinkers.
自然 — the way things generate themselves
My research argues that Korean Daoism deserves a place in the wider history of Neo-Daoist thought, not as a footnote to the Chinese tradition, but as a philosophically original development in its own right. Much of that work orbits Yi Gyubo (1169–1241), a Goryeo poet-philosopher writing at the intersection of Daoist cosmogony, literary aesthetics, and religious syncretism.
Yi Gyubo engages Guo Xiang’s doctrine of spontaneous self-generation directly and seriously, then does something with it that has no clear parallel in Chinese Xuanxue. His cosmos generates itself without any directing agent, and yet he persistently harangues that same Creator, calling it the “damn little Creator,” blaming it for illness, old age, and grief. I call this affective Neo-Daoism: a phenomenology of what Daoist acceptance actually costs from inside a suffering body, rather than from the idealized vantage of the sage.
Following this work has taken me from Seoul to Rome, Hong Kong, Taipei, and Budapest, and into broader questions about how philosophical traditions don’t just travel, they transform. Alongside my dissertation, I serve as an editorial assistant on forthcoming Oxford and Routledge volumes on Korean philosophy, and I have work appearing or under review on Goguryeo tomb murals, mountain spirit worship, Confucian ritual music, and the computer game Fallout.
Areas of specialization
Korean Philosophy (Daoism)
Areas of competence
Korean Neo-Confucianism · Comparative Philosophy · Religious Studies (Syncretism & Shamanism)
Selected papers and presentations from the last year. The full record is in the CV below.
“Ordering Emotion through Sound: Ritual Music and Heart-Mind Cultivation in Korean Neo-Confucianism”
European Journal of Korean Studies 26.1
“Religious Syncretism between Daoist and Shamanistic Imagery in Goguryeo Tomb Murals”
The Review of Korean Studies 29, no. 1: 237–258
“Between Traditions: Korean Philosophy and the Limits of Universality” ↗
Reports from Abroad, Blog of the American Philosophical Association
“Toward Korean Neo-Daoism: Daoist Philosophy in the Writings of Yi Gyubo”
NAKPA Panel, APA Pacific Division Meeting
Korean philosophy for audiences beyond the seminar room.
Podcast · 2024
Taoism and the Creator
Korea Deconstructed ep. 77, with David Tizzard — a long conversation on Korean Daoism and Yi Gyubo’s cantankerous Creator.
Watch on YouTube ↗
Interview · 2026
Between Traditions
On Korean philosophy and the limits of universality, for the APA Blog’s Reports from Abroad series.
Read the interview ↗
Public writing · 2025
Rediscovering a Neglected Tradition
A review of Korean Philosophy: Sources and Interpretations for the Blog of the APA, with André M. Penna-Firme.
Read the review ↗
Online courses · 2021–2023
Five courses on Korean philosophy
Co-produced with the Center for K-Academic Expansion in Philosophy, including Introduction to Korean Philosophy and Culture and the Korean Philosophy Essentials specialization on Coursera, plus courses on Korean music, Buddhist philosophy, and aesthetics.
Community · 2024–present
r/KoreanPhilosophy
Founder and moderator of the subreddit for Korean philosophy — a growing home for readers, students, and the simply curious.
Press · 2025
Sogang Story No. 115
Profiled by the Sogang Gazette, Sogang University’s newspaper, on studying Korean philosophy as an international researcher.
A short list of readings I have found useful for getting oriented in Korean philosophy — not exhaustive, just a place to start.
Comprehensive overviews
Sourcebook of Korean Civilization, 1993 — ed. Peter Lee
Korea: A Religious History, 2002 — James Grayson
Korean Philosophy: Sources and Interpretations, 2015 — ed. Youn Sa-soon
Religious and Philosophical Traditions of Korea, 2019 — Kevin Cawley
Stanford Encyclopedia: Korean Philosophy — Halla Kim
Korean Confucianism
The Rise of Neo-Confucianism in Korea, 1987 — Wm. Theodore de Bary & JaHyun Kim Haboush
To Become a Sage: The Ten Diagrams on Sage Learning, 1988 — Michael Kalton
Stanford Encyclopedia: Korean Confucianism — Kevin Cawley
Korean Buddhism
The Formation of Ch’an Ideology in China and Korea, 1989 — Robert E. Buswell
Makers of Modern Korean Buddhism, 2010 — Jin Y. Park
Stanford Encyclopedia: Korean Buddhism — Lucy Hyekyung Jee
Korean Daoism
“Daoism in Korea”, in Daoism Handbook, 2000 — Jung Jae-Seo
“Taoism in Korea”, in The Encyclopedia of Taoism, 2004 — Fabrizio Pregadio
Taoism in Korea: Past and Present, 2010 — Donald Baker
“Toegye’s Appraisal of Daoism”, 2020 — Vladimir Glomb
Korean Shamanism
“Concerning the Origin and Formation of Korean Shamanism”, 1973 — Jung Young Lee
Korean Shamanism: The Cultural Paradox, 2003 — Chongho Kim
“The Concept of ‘Korean Religion’ and Religious Studies in Korea”, 2010 — Chongsuh Kim
Primary texts & databases
Charles Muller: The Collected Works of Korean Buddhism
Charles Muller: Buddhist, Confucian & Daoist E-texts, Indexes & Bibliographies
한국고전종합DB (Korean Classics Database)
Online courses — Center for K-Academic Expansion in Philosophy
Department of Philosophy, Sogang University · Seoul, South Korea · Last updated July 2026
AOS: Korean Philosophy (Daoism) · AOC: Korean Neo-Confucianism, Comparative Philosophy, Religious Studies (Syncretism & Shamanism)
Journal articles
“Religious Syncretism between Daoist and Shamanistic Imagery in Goguryeo Tomb Murals.” The Review of Korean Studies 29, no. 1 (June 2026): 237–258.
“Ordering Emotion through Sound: Ritual Music and Heart-Mind Cultivation in Korean Neo-Confucianism.” European Journal of Korean Studies 26.1 (Research Note). Forthcoming, October 2026.
Manuscripts under peer review
Confucian approaches to care and public health
Daoist elements of Korean Mountain Spirit worship
Yi Gyubo as a Korean Neo-Daoist
Fallout and aesthetic retrofuturism
Public writing (invited / non–peer reviewed)
Gilbert, William, and André M. Penna-Firme. “Rediscovering a Neglected Tradition: Book Review — Korean Philosophy: Sources and Interpretations.” Blog of the American Philosophical Association (Reports from Abroad), December 15, 2025.
Invited
Refereed
Comments
Online courses (co-produced)
Introduction to Korean Philosophy and Culture — Coursera, 2021
Korean Music, A Philosophical Exploration — Coursera, 2023
In Search for the Origins of Korean Philosophy — Coursera, 2023
An Introduction to Korean Buddhist Philosophy — KMOOC, 2023
Korean Aesthetics — KMOOC, 2023
Interviews & podcasts
“Between Traditions: Korean Philosophy and the Limits of Universality” — Reports from Abroad, Blog of the APA, 2026
Sogang Story No. 115 — Sogang Gazette, 2025
“Taoism and the Creator” — Korea Deconstructed, ep. 77, 2024
Guest lecture
Teaching assistantships
North American Korean Philosophy Association (since 2019)
American Philosophical Association, Eastern Division (since 2023)
International Society for Philosophy as a Way of Life (since 2026)
Korean — intermediate
Classical Chinese — basic research proficiency