"POSTECH Professor Claims No Correct Answer for CSAT Korean Question 17" (Comprehensive)

A Challenging Question on Kant's "Personal Identity"
Lee Choonghyung Says, "Option 3 Cannot Be the Correct Answer"

A university professor has raised concerns that there is no correct answer for Question 17 in the Korean language section of the 2026 College Scholastic Ability Test.

According to the education community on November 19, Lee Chung Hyung, a professor in the Division of Humanities and Social Sciences at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), posted on an online community for test-takers, stating, "I tried solving the Korean language test because I heard there was a question related to Kant, but it seemed that Question 17 had no correct answer."

Question 17 in the Korean language section, which both EBS, private education institutes, and test-takers have identified as highly difficult, is based on a passage discussing German philosopher Immanuel Kant's concept of "personal identity." The problem requires selecting the most appropriate response to the argument presented by "Person A."

2026 College Scholastic Ability Test Question 17. Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation

In the question, Person A argues, "If the consciousness occurring in the brain is scanned and reproduced as a program, then the original self and the reproduced consciousness are not the same person."

The Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation released the answer to this question as option 3. Option 3 states, "According to the prevailing view before Kant, Person A's position that the mere continuity of the 'thinking self' does not guarantee personal identity would not be correct."

However, Professor Lee refuted this, saying, "Person A's position is correct, so option 3 cannot be the answer." He cited the sentence in the introduction of the passage: "The prevailing view before Kant was that the 'thinking self' continues as a single subject." Since the consciousness reproduced by the scanning program is not a "single subject," Professor Lee explained that Person A's claim that "identity does not hold" is correct.

Professor Lee also pointed out, "One might think this problem can be simply solved using the logical structure 'if a = b and a is C, then b is also C,' but in reality, this is an incorrect approach." He criticized, "The claim that option 3 is the answer relies merely on superficially similar wording and commits a logical error," adding, "Solving problems by depending on the superficial similarity of wording goes against the educational purpose."

In a phone interview with Yonhap News Agency, he said, "It seems the test maker applied the argument 'if a = b and a is C, then b is also C' too simplistically," and added, "The very concept of continuity is difficult for high school students to understand, and even I took 20 minutes to comprehend the passage."

Professor Lee was previously selected as one of the "Top 10 Philosophy Papers of 2022" by The Philosopher's Annual for his paper on numerical identity, which is related to this question and discusses revised egg and early embryo issues.

Reading comprehension and logic instructor Lee Haehwang also expressed the same opinion as Professor Lee in a YouTube video, stating, "After receiving an email from Professor Lee and reviewing the issue thoroughly, I reached the same conclusion."