The four papers in this panel offers comparative re-readings of well-known philosophical notions of Dharma, God, Womb, and Gendered Othering
The first presentation "Is God really dead in Sāṃkhya? A Naturalist Interpretation of the Turn to Atheism in Early Classical Sāṃkhya" recovers a strand of mystical atheism in early classical Sāṃkhya.
The second presentation "The Womb as Creatio Ex Profundis: The Daoist Primacy of the Eternal Feminine without Counterpart" reads Daoist womb cosmology alongside Geothe's "Eternal Feminine."
The third presentation "Comparative Hermeneutics of Woongnyeo (熊女), Kitsune (狐/キツネ/狐女), and Gumiho (九尾狐): Toward a Transhumanistic Ecofeminism" further elaborates a feminist philosophy of the more-than-human world.
The last presentation "Beyond Religion: The Multifaceted Concept of Dharma in Indian Thought" reveals the socio-political aspects of Dharma (typically translated as religion) in the philosophy of Gandhi, Tagore, and Ambedkar.
In my paper, I investigate the evolution of the concept of dharma, a rich and multifaceted Sanskrit principle embodying moral duty and social responsibility within Indian philosophico-religious traditions. Through an analysis of the perspectives of influential figures such as Gandhi and Ambedkar, I illustrate that dharma extends beyond mere religious definitions to encompass universal ethics and legal responsibilities.
The historical applications of dharma, prominently inscribed in the ancient royal edicts of Aśoka and notably revisited in modern Indian political theories, prioritize societal harmony above individual interests. My comprehensive examination of the definitions and selected interpretations of dharma in classical Indian philosophical texts, alongside relevant commentaries (Hindu: Bhagavad Gītā, Vaiśeṣikasūtra, Nyāyasūtra, and Jain: Saman Suttam, Tattvārtha Sūtra, among others), will yield a novel classification that enhances our understanding of these intricate obligations. I aim to illuminate the enduring impact of these ancient principles on contemporary identity and governance in India.
Traditional Indian commentators and modern scholars alike frequently construe Sāṃkhya atheism in terms that resonate with the modern scientific rejection of intelligent design. This paper corrects certain misreadings of prakṛti in early Sāṃkhya as mere materiality—that is, a materiality that is reducible to parts, moves according to fixed causal patterns, and remains motionless unless acted upon by an outside force. It shows that early Sāṃkhyans theorized prakṛti (nature) as a living, purposive being whose unfolding manifestations are not only well-coordinated but trustworthy when seen in the context of nature’s own creative agency. Thus viewed in the context of a naturalistic spirituality without trust in God, early Sāṃkhya atheism sought to ground our faith in life itself instead of outsourcing it to an external agent.
This paper explores the Daodejing’s cosmogony, where the Dao is metaphorically identified as the “Great Mother” and the “Enigmatic Female” whose “portal” serves as the root of heaven and earth. I argue that Daoist creationrepresents a creatio ex profundis—creation from the primordial, chaotic “womb” of nothingness (wu)—rather than the traditional Judeo-Christian creatio ex nihilo. Unlike Western models that posit a transcendent masculine deity imposing order from a void, the Daoist “womb cosmology” is autopoietic (ziran). It describes a world that self-unfolds naturally without external “assistant managers” or teleological blueprints. By prioritizing this primordial womb as the generative source of being (you), this model dismantles the “man-standard” of a sovereign creator. Drawing on cross-cultural dialogues with contemporary theopoetics, I demonstrate how this feminine paradigm offers a subversive alternative to the logic of domination inherent in masculine models of creation.
This paper undertakes a hermeneutic and comparative-philosophical analysis of Woongnyeo (熊女), the Bear Woman of Korean primordial myth, alongside the Kitsune (狐/キツネ/狐女, shape-shifting fox woman) and the Korean Gumiho (九尾狐, 구미호, nine-tailed fox woman). These mythic female-animal figures inhabit liminal spaces between human and non-human life, historically coded as morally ambivalent or threatening, revealing enduring cultural anxieties about women, agency, and liminality. Tracing their narratives from the past—Woongnyeo’s ascetic transformation and nurturing role, the Kitsune’s and Gumiho’s transgressive portrayals—to contemporary reinterpretations, this study examines their potential to model interspecies relationality, ethical care, and ecological imagination. Reconfigured through a transhumanistic ecofeminist lens, these myths offer frameworks for a future in which humans, animals, and ecosystems co-flourish. Myth functions both as lens and method, connecting past, present, and future, cultivating relational imagination, critical ethical reflection, and hope as sustained, pragmatic, and transformative engagement with planetary and social futures.