1999 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Interdiciplinary Approaches to the Concept of Identity In British Thought.
| Project/Area Number |
10410012
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
History of thought
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| Research Institution | The University of Tokyo |
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Principal Investigator |
TSUKAMOTO Akiko Gr. school of A & science, Univ. of Tokyo, Professor, 大学院・総合文化研究科, 教授 (50064233)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
POSSIER Paul Gr. school of A & science, Univ. of Tokyo, Professor, 大学院・総合文化研究科, 教授 (40199592)
WILSON Brendan Gr. school of A & science, Univ. of Tokyo, Professor, 大学院・総合文化研究科, 教授 (80242030)
TAKADA Yasunari Gr. school of A & science, Univ. of Tokyo, Professor, 大学院・総合文化研究科, 教授 (10116056)
LUCORE Sandra Gr. school of A & science, Univ. of Tokyo, Associate Professor, 大学院・総合文化研究科, 教授 (40291330)
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| Project Period (FY) |
1998 – 1999
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| Keywords | Identity / europe / individual / A=Α / Britain / thought / language / complex |
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| Research Abstract |
The Concept of Identity is particularly European (or more precisely Greek) in that it is closely connected with the problem of classification of objects into classes of "identical ones" (A = Α), rather than with change, flow and non-repeatability (A is never = Α), which are the characteristic preoccupations of Asian thought. This apparent contradiction between our reliance oh broad repeatability of phenomena and the uniqueness of "detail" received most profound and influential expression in the 18th century British thought, particularly in the philosophy of David Hume. Our research ranges rom ancient Greece and Rome, through the Renaissance to the 20 century covering both the West the East, while all the time keeping British thought in mind. Four of us have made a contribution to this project approaching it from different angles. Sandra Lucore, considered Greek aesthetic sensibility reflected in Greek sculpture, (which was re-discovered by 19th century neo-classicists) and which shows
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a deep underlying belief in rationality, while displaying an increasing interest in irrationality in actual practice. Yasunari Takada considered the concept of identity in relation to translation and the question of the translator's duty of 'truthfulness' to the original. He examined translations of the life of Cicero by Plutarch : and Bruni's "CoceroNovus", to try to understand the meaning of "original identity". He came to the conclusion that the identity can be found in the 'difference' between various interpretations and expressions. Brendan Wilson, in his 'Relativism and Relativity' questioned whether different languages have their own unique character or Identity and in particular whether language influences thought or understanding to the extent that makes understanding across language Barriers impossible. My (Akiko Tsukamoto's ) paper, "Artificiality: making Art out of Life" is an attempt to find 'identity' not in individuals but, as it were, made out of dramatic situations where people 'act' before other people (or before themselves). Here "identity" is rather precariously sustained in social life, and, following Wittgenstein's suggestion that there is no private language, I would like to suggest that there is also no private 'identity', and in contrast to the Western tradition of individualism, postulate a possibility of identity made up by communal gatherings and performative acts. Less
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