Jun 1, 2021 03:48 AM
(This post was last modified: Jun 1, 2021 03:50 AM by C C.)
https://philosopherscocoon.typepad.com/b...japan.html
EXCERPTS: This is the twenty-third installment of The Cocoon Goes Global, a series that gives a sense of what the philosophy profession looks like outside of the Anglophone West. This guest post is written by Katsunori Miyahara (lecturer at the Center for Human Nature, AI, and Neuroscience at Hokkaido University) and Kengo Miyazono (associate professor of philosophy at Hokkaido University).
[...] If we look beyond academia, philosophy seems to be a popular genre among the general readership, as many philosophy books have become best sellers in the last couple years. This includes books such as the Japanese translations of authors like Michael Sandel, Markus Gabriel, and Shelly Kagen.
In general, Japanese philosophers have been enthusiastic about producing Japanese translations of Western philosophical texts, ranging from ancient classics to contemporary cutting-edge research, since the introduction of Western philosophy into the country.
This enthusiasm can be seen in how we can occasionally find translations of niche texts that are probably not so often translated into other languages. An interesting example, which recently came under the spotlight, would be Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz’ memo on countermeasures to the plague addressed to Duke Ernst August, a text that suddenly regained its relevance due to the COVID-19 pandemic more than 300 years after it was initially written. On a somewhat different note, The Philosopher’s Path in Kyoto, where Kyoto-school philosophers, like Nishida and his disciples, are said to have taken strolls and meditate in the past, is a popular tourist destination.
A question we have been asked several times before is whether continental or analytic philosophy is more popular in Japan. In the first half of the 20th century, philosophers in Japan mostly engaged with works in the so-called continental philosophical tradition. In particular, Japan was one of the earliest adopters of phenomenology outside Europe––phenomenologists among the readers will know that Husserl even wrote a series of papers specifically for a Japanese journal, Kaizo, in the 1920s, now known as the Kaizo articles.
However, it is probably fair to say that this bias towards continental philosophy has largely dissolved by now. In fact, Philosophy of Science of Society, Japan, which is a society for anglophone/analytic philosophy, has 529 members, having more members than The Phenomenological Association of Japan, the main phenomenology society that includes 423 members. Ancient philosophy also seems equally popular, seeing as to how The Classical Society of Japan has 420 members. Medieval philosophy lags slightly behind, as one can glean from the fact that The Japanese Society of Medieval Philosophy has 240 members.
In general, there is much interaction in Japan between people working in different areas and traditions of philosophy, and across the so-called analytic/continental divide (if we can still talk about such a thing). We speculate this may be because of the relatively small size of the entire philosophical community in Japan. This general trend is somewhat reflected in the arrangement of our own institution, Hokkaido University. Our philosophy department (department of philosophy and religious studies) has eleven faculty members, whose main research areas are applied ethics, German philosophy, French philosophy, logic, ancient philosophy, philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, philosophy of religion, Indian philosophy, Christianity, and Buddhism.
Just like in many other Japanese universities, there are philosophers outside the philosophy department as well, such as philosophers of art in the aesthetics department or philosophers of science in the School of Science. Other philosophers belong to liberal arts programs and research centers. One of us teaches at the Center for Human Nature, Artificial Intelligence, and Neuroscience (CHAIN), a research and education center focused on interdisciplinary studies of mind and cognition... (MORE - missing sections)
EXCERPTS: This is the twenty-third installment of The Cocoon Goes Global, a series that gives a sense of what the philosophy profession looks like outside of the Anglophone West. This guest post is written by Katsunori Miyahara (lecturer at the Center for Human Nature, AI, and Neuroscience at Hokkaido University) and Kengo Miyazono (associate professor of philosophy at Hokkaido University).
[...] If we look beyond academia, philosophy seems to be a popular genre among the general readership, as many philosophy books have become best sellers in the last couple years. This includes books such as the Japanese translations of authors like Michael Sandel, Markus Gabriel, and Shelly Kagen.
In general, Japanese philosophers have been enthusiastic about producing Japanese translations of Western philosophical texts, ranging from ancient classics to contemporary cutting-edge research, since the introduction of Western philosophy into the country.
This enthusiasm can be seen in how we can occasionally find translations of niche texts that are probably not so often translated into other languages. An interesting example, which recently came under the spotlight, would be Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz’ memo on countermeasures to the plague addressed to Duke Ernst August, a text that suddenly regained its relevance due to the COVID-19 pandemic more than 300 years after it was initially written. On a somewhat different note, The Philosopher’s Path in Kyoto, where Kyoto-school philosophers, like Nishida and his disciples, are said to have taken strolls and meditate in the past, is a popular tourist destination.
A question we have been asked several times before is whether continental or analytic philosophy is more popular in Japan. In the first half of the 20th century, philosophers in Japan mostly engaged with works in the so-called continental philosophical tradition. In particular, Japan was one of the earliest adopters of phenomenology outside Europe––phenomenologists among the readers will know that Husserl even wrote a series of papers specifically for a Japanese journal, Kaizo, in the 1920s, now known as the Kaizo articles.
However, it is probably fair to say that this bias towards continental philosophy has largely dissolved by now. In fact, Philosophy of Science of Society, Japan, which is a society for anglophone/analytic philosophy, has 529 members, having more members than The Phenomenological Association of Japan, the main phenomenology society that includes 423 members. Ancient philosophy also seems equally popular, seeing as to how The Classical Society of Japan has 420 members. Medieval philosophy lags slightly behind, as one can glean from the fact that The Japanese Society of Medieval Philosophy has 240 members.
In general, there is much interaction in Japan between people working in different areas and traditions of philosophy, and across the so-called analytic/continental divide (if we can still talk about such a thing). We speculate this may be because of the relatively small size of the entire philosophical community in Japan. This general trend is somewhat reflected in the arrangement of our own institution, Hokkaido University. Our philosophy department (department of philosophy and religious studies) has eleven faculty members, whose main research areas are applied ethics, German philosophy, French philosophy, logic, ancient philosophy, philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, philosophy of religion, Indian philosophy, Christianity, and Buddhism.
Just like in many other Japanese universities, there are philosophers outside the philosophy department as well, such as philosophers of art in the aesthetics department or philosophers of science in the School of Science. Other philosophers belong to liberal arts programs and research centers. One of us teaches at the Center for Human Nature, Artificial Intelligence, and Neuroscience (CHAIN), a research and education center focused on interdisciplinary studies of mind and cognition... (MORE - missing sections)