I majored in Mechanical Engineering at Seoul National University in South Korea. At my junior year, I dropped by the office of a professor in the department of Philosophy. I knocked on his door because he was in his office and the others weren't. He let me in and I asked him, "What is Philosophy?"

He replied, "Your question is too extensive to answer."

"In general, such a way of answering is adopted by those who don't have the obvious understanding of a thing, isn't it?" I said. At that moment, I had to leave his office, for someone visited him. A few days later, I visited him again and asked the same question. This time, his answer was different from the previous one, "What kinds of philosophy do you want to ask? Socrates' or Kant's?" The answer made me ask, "Sir, in Math, have we got different answers in between Western and Eastern world? I don't want to listen to Socrates' or Kant's views or thoughts on Philosophy. I just want to ask you what Philosophy itself is." He said nothing for several minutes. And then he asked me the same question that I had asked him. "Then what do you think philosophy is?" I told him the answer that I know. He said that it was correct. I was surprised to hear that. So I asked, "Sir, what are you teaching, then?"

He got so angry at the question. I was expelled.