Intercultural Phenomenology
Playing with Reality
Author: Yuko Ishihara and Steven A. Tainer Series: Bloomsbury Introductions to World Philosophies
A practical guide that takes one of the core ideas in phenomenology and reinterprets it in light of insights from Japanese philosophy.
Paperback
PRODUCT INFORMATION
Summary
A practical guide that takes one of the core ideas in phenomenology and reinterprets it in light of insights from Japanese philosophy.
Description
Intercultural Phenomenology explores the nature of reality by engaging in a cross-cultural dialogue between two of the most influential philosophical traditions of the 20th century.
Drawing on ideas from phenomenology, Japanese philosophy and Zen Buddhism, it follows the philosophers who changed their perception of the world by choosing to suspend judgement. Guided by this philosophical method known as the “epoché”, or suspension of judgment in ancient Greek, it is an introduction to the philosophy and practice of letting objects in the world speak for themselves.
Inspired by Nishida Kitaro’s insight that true reality is beyond the subject-object duality, the book uses a series of examples and exercises to explore the background to Husserl’s idea of the phenomenological epoché, Hans-Georg Gadamer’s emphasis on play in human understanding and the haiku poet Matsuo Basho's call for a new level of freedom. This practice-oriented approach moves beyond the traditional East-West divide. It connects various traditions, old and new, contemplative and theoretical, and explains why Japanese philosophy and phenomenology can enrich the quality of our lived experience.
Critic Reviews
This sparkling book is an antidote to technical philosophy closed to non- specialists. Instead of working through abstract ideas detached from ordinary life, its chapters and exercises open fresh access to philosophy that deepens as well as widens a direct and playful engagement with reality. John C. Maraldo, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, University of North Florida, USA
This book presents the dialogue between the phenomenology of Husserl and Heidegger
and the Japanese Zen practice integrating philosophy of NIshida and Ueda. In it, the deep
dimension of pre-linguistic experience accessible through Husserl's phenomenological
reduction is clearly revealed, from which the subject-object duality arises and into which
it dissolves.
Drawing on Japanese and other Asian as well as European thinkers, this refreshingly accessible book reenvisions the phenomenological epoché as a practice of suspending our pre-judgments—of removing our “colored glasses”—so that we can learn to cooperatively play with the various ways in which reality manifests itself. Bret W. Davis, Professor and Higgins Chair in Philosophy, Loyola University Maryland, USA
[W]hat Intercultural Phenomenology achieves is a breath-taking feat. Boldly reaching beyond the boundaries of culture, Ishihara and Tainer weave some of the most infuential twentieth century philosophies into a diverse tapestry The Journal of East Asian Philosophy
About the Author
Yuko Ishihara is Associate Professor at the College of Global Liberal Arts at Ritsumeikan University, Japan. She specializes in Kyoto School philosophy and classical phenomenology. Her research includes a focus on the topic of play and, specifically, how modern philosophers have turned to the notion of play to overcome the metaphysics of subjectivity.
Steven A. Tainer has studied Asian contemplative traditions intensively since 1970 with Tibetan, Chinese and Korean masters. After practicing for decades in both mountain retreats and ordinary life circumstances, he began teaching Buddhist, Taoist and Confucian fundamentals to private groups and at the Berkeley Buddhist Monastery in Berkeley California, USA.
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