Freedom and its discontents: cross-cultural conversations

This paper aims to examine the idea of ​​a ‘great free man’ presented by Seon Master Daehaeng, which focuses on the realization of human nature, interconnectedness, and development of the society. Daehaeng spoke of the freedom to pursue the inherent nature of all people, to empathize and be compassionate with each other as interconnected beings, and to make progress in society by utilizing inner wisdom; to let go of self-centered mind is an essential method of practice in daily life. The paper also explains our direct experiences through counseling with the most unfree prisoners, including death row inmates and life sentences for years, from the perspective of the true human dignity and the transforming power of compassion. It illuminates that true individual freedom and happiness are directly connected to others and society, and that everyone has the inherent freedom to cultivate inner wisdom and compassion to contribute to humanity.

L'Encyclopédie, published in France between 1751 and 1772, is a monumental 35-volume work compiled by Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert, key figures of the French Enlightenment. Diderot’s entry on Philosophie des Chinois offers a rare Enlightenment perspective on East Asian thought, yet it presents challenges in translation, particularly in its distorted rendering of Chinese names, terms, and references. Our talk critically examines these difficulties and explores how Diderot’s work contributes to the legacy of Eurocentric Enlightenment perspectives on non-Western traditions. Central to our discussion is the paradox of freedom—while the Enlightenment championed liberty and knowledge, it remained constrained by its own cultural biases. Diderot’s engagement with Chinese philosophy reflects this tension, revealing both an expansion of intellectual horizons and the persistence of Western epistemological frameworks. We thus consider how Enlightenment freedom both enabled and restricted ways of knowing across cultural boundaries.

This study examines how, despite the achievements of women’s liberation in Korean society, confrontational feminism has paradoxically reinforced patriarchal sexist codes. It critically analyzes the gendered ontological and epistemological foundations of the liberal humanist subject, inherited by confrontational feminism and proposes an alternative feminine subject marginalized by both patriarchy and feminism. Engaging with the Presidential theme, it interrogates the liberal humanist notion of freedom, presenting instead a subversive conception of it rooted in our feminine subjectivity, i.e., freedom from–not of–the ego. Central to this discussion is salim, a Korean homonym meaning household labor and “life-giving.” Drawing from Laozi, Nietzsche, Levinas, Deleuze, and Byung-Chul Han, this study will explore how their ideas mutually enrich one another, ultimately conceptualizing salim, in a multifaceted way, as a model of postmodern feminine subjectivity—the Salimist. Finally, the works of Korean female artists will be analyzed as aesthetic manifestations of the Salimist.