Thammasat University students interested in philosophy, literature, Asian studies, intellectual history, and related subjects may find it useful to participate in a free 29 July Zoom 6th Asian Philosophical Texts Conference- Asian Philosophies and Literatures.

The event, on Monday, 29 July 2024 at 3pm Bangkok time, is presented by The University of Edinburgh, Scotland.

According to the event website:

The theme of the 6th Asian Philosophical Text Conference is ‘Asian Philosophies and Literatures’. This conference aims at providing a platform for scholars in the field of Asian Studies and world philosophies to discuss and reflect on the task of translating Asian philosophical and literary texts (in the broadest sense) into western languages. This includes, but is not limited to, Chinese, Cambodian, Indian, Japanese, Korean, Mongolian, Vietnamese philosophical and literary texts from any period. Any papers on the philosophy of translation, philosophy of literatures, critical analyses of existing translations, or ongoing translation projects are welcome. Contributions from early- and mid-career scholars are welcome.

Organisers:

Takeshi Morisato, University of Edinburgh

Alexandra Mustăţea, Kanda University of International Studies

Roman Paşca, Akita University

The TU Library collection includes research about different aspects of Asian philosophy.

Students are invited to register for the event at this link:

https://ed-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/81802862957

In 2016, Professor Morisato published an article, “What does it mean for Japanese Philosophy to be Japanese? A Kyoto School discussion of the particular character of Japanese thought” in   Journal of World Philosophies.

Here is the abstract of the Open Access article:

This article provides a critical introduction to, and the first English translation of, the dialogue held between Nishida Kitarō and Miki Kiyoshi in October 1935. The topic of their discussion was the question of the particular character of Japanese culture and philosophy. In the introductory sections of this article, I will reflect on some of the main points that Nishida proposes in response to Miki’s questions, and clarify what these insights mean for a culture or a historical framework of thought, including Japanese culture and philosophy. In light of this expository reflection on Nishida’s take on the nature of Japanese culture and philosophy, I will reflect on the significance of scholarly work in the field of Japanese studies and Japanese philosophy beyond the Japanese cultural milieu. The text concludes with a translation of the Miki-Nishida dialogue.

The article begins:

The Question of the National Identity in the Midst of 1930s

This article aims to provide a critical introduction to, and a preliminary reflection on, a philosophical conversation held between two contemporaneous Japanese philosophers, i.e., Nishida Kitarō (1870–1945) and Miki Kiyoshi (1897–1945). A few weeks after the publication of Watsuji Tetsurō’s Fūdo (translated previously as Climate and Culture) and a week before Nazi Germany left the League of Nations, Miki conducted an interview with the founder of the Kyoto School of philosophy, in October 1935. This dialogue was published in six parts in the Yomiuri Shinbun and was entitled “The Special Characteristics of Japanese Culture.” It contains a series of questions and answers exchanged between these two thinkers. Their philosophical ideas were described in terms accessible to the general public. The opening question was meant to be a response to the recent rise of general interest in nationalistic themes such as “Japanese Spirit” (Nihonseishin) and “Japanism” (Nihonshugi). The young journalist inquired of his teacher: “What do you think about the fundamental characteristics of Japanese culture?”

It is undeniable that Nishida’s response to the question contains some elements that can be interpreted as showing his problematic support of the militaristic government at that time. However, on closer examination, his critical definition of Japanese philosophy highlights not only its irreducible difference from the other intellectual traditions of the world (e.g., Confucianism, Buddhism, German Idealism, Marxism, and phenomenology), but also its essential relationship to them.

This understanding of the Japanese intellectual tradition allows us to look beyond the notion of Japanese militaristic nationalism, and to discuss his philosophical argument for the unique character of Japanese culture within the network of various cultures.

To demonstrate this point, I would like to provide a short summary of the arguments Nishida developed in his conversation with Miki, and to explore their philosophico-cultural implications regarding the question of what it means for a culture to be Japanese or for a particular historical framework of thinking to be described as “Japanese philosophy.” 

One of the greatest challenges in writing an article on the works of Japanese philosophers is the general lack of decent translations in Western languages. There are twenty volumes in The Complete Works of Miki Kiyoshi (Miki Kiyoshi zenshū) and, as is often the case among the Kyoto School thinkers, their themes, as well as their self-contained essays, tend to cover an incredibly wide range of philosophical topics, ranging from the philosophy of history, politics, culture, and literature to other major philosophical figures (both from the east and the west).

Even though Miki’s popularity was uncontested in post-war Japan, this massive collection did not receive much attention from western philosophers. This becomes particularly clear when we take a closer look at the field of academia in English-speaking countries.

This article, then, is an invitation to consider an important but neglected dialogue between Japanese thinkers, which promises to throw light on a particular period in Japanese history and on Japanese thought. To attain this goal, I have included, at the end of this article, the first English translation of the dialogue between Miki and Nishida on the particular characteristics of Japanese culture. […]

In the overture to their dialogue, the founder of the Kyoto School gives a series of interesting remarks—remarks through which he qualifies the nature of Japanese culture and the Japanese way of thinking. First, he indicates, “it is undoubtedly true that Japan is one of the countries in the east but it is somewhat different from India and China. Rather [the Japanese way of thinking] is much closer to ancient Greece”. In Greece, nature did not exist as an object standing over against humans as the subject.

Rather, there was a close affinity between nature and humans, or a primal harmony between object and subject. Nishida feels that there is something like that in the ways in which Japanese people confront their historical reality—for they are “sensitive, receptive and progressive” (ibid.). Notice how, in this remark, Nishida immediately gives up on a dualistic understanding of the relationship between east and west. Instead of finding a deeper affinity between the Japanese way of thinking and the Indian or the Chinese way of thinking, or juxtaposing them against the western way(s) of thinking, he finds a deeper consonance between the foundation of the western intellectual tradition and the Japanese way of thinking. 

(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)