Jiseob Yoon

Hello, I’m Jiseob.

I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Korea University.

I received my Ph.D. in Politics, with a specialization in political theory, from Princeton University in 2024. My primary research focuses on ancient Greek and Roman political thought. I also have research interests in the philosophy of law, Chinese political thought, comparative political theory, and the function of emotions in political life.

My dissertation, “The Role of Law in Plato’s Cities,” was supported by the Laurance S. Rockefeller Graduate Prize Fellowship from the Princeton University Center for Human Values, and received an honorable mention for the 2025 Conrado Eggers Lan Prize from the International Plato Society. In the dissertation, I argue that Plato recognizes the essential role of law in both ruling ideal cities and sustaining corrupt ones, in the Republic, Statesman, and Laws. I show that Plato conceptualizes law as “the distribution of reason” (Laws IV.714a), and propose that he views law as a mechanism that connects the knowledge of political experts to the everyday lives of non-expert citizens.

Check out my research page to learn more about my research projects.

Before joining Korea University, I taught as an Adjunct Lecturer in the Department of Government at Georgetown University (Spring-Fall 2025).