2022 Fiscal Year Annual Research Report
An exploratory investigation of the foundations of environmental ethics: self and nature in Japanese philosophy
| Project/Area Number |
20K00007
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| Research Institution | Akita University |
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Principal Investigator |
パシュカ ロマン 秋田大学, 教育文化学部, 准教授 (90758583)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2020-04-01 – 2023-03-31
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| Keywords | philosophy / nature / Japanese philosophy / environmental ethics / deep ecology |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
During the last year of the project, I focused my research on analyzing the connections between Japanese philosophy (of nature) and environmental ethics. I also put a lot of effort into publicizing the results of my research through conference presentations, workshops, book chapters etc.
Specifically, I employed the theoretical framework of "deep ecology" (Naess' eight points) to look at the works of Ando Shoeki (with a special focus on the notion of "nibetsu naki"), Ninomiya Sontoku (focus on the dichotomy between "tendo" and "jindo"), Minakata Kumagusu (focus on his mandalas), and Eto Tekirei (focus on his concept of "ba"). Thus, I showed that many of the tenets of "deep ecology" (and environmental ethics, for that matter) were already present in early modern and modern Japanese philosophical texts. Starting from this conclusion, I also engaged in translating some of these texts in order to make them available to a wider audience.
The most important achievement of the project (overall) will likely be the publication of three books: a monograph on Ando Shoeki (single-authored), a new translation of Ando Shoeki's philosophical texts (co-autjored), and an anthology of essays on deep ecology and Japanese philosophy (edited volume). These are all at various stages of completion and will be published from late 2023 to late 2025.
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