Publication Date
Fall 11-1-2009
Description
This paper provides an analysis of the key term aidagara (“betweenness”) in the philosophical ethics of Watsuji Tetsurō (1889-1960), in response to and in light of the recent movement in Japanese Buddhist studies known as “Critical Buddhism.” The Critical Buddhist call for a turn away from “topical” or intuitionist thinking and towards (properly Buddhist) “critical” thinking, while problematic in its bipolarity, raises the important issue of the place of “reason” versus “intuition” in Japanese Buddhist ethics. In this paper, a comparison of Watsuji’s “ontological quest” with that of Martin Heidegger (1889-1976), Watsuji’s primary Western source and foil, is followed by an evaluation of a corresponding search for an “ontology of social existence” undertaken by Tanabe Hajime (1885-1962). Ultimately, the philosophico-religious writings of Watsuji Tetsurō allow for the “return” of aesthesis as a modality of social being that is truly dimensionalized, and thus falls prey neither to the verticality of topicalism nor the limiting objectivity of criticalism.
Journal
Asian Philosophy
Volume
19
Issue
3
First Page
265
Last Page
283
Department
Comparative Humanities
Link to Published Version
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09552360903244904#.UsNoBmQW31s
Recommended Citation
Shields, James. "The Art of Aidagara: Ethics, Aesthetics, and the Quest for an Ontology of Social Existence in Watsuji Tetsurō’s Rinrigaku." Asian Philosophy (2009) : 265-283.
Included in
Aesthetics Commons, Continental Philosophy Commons, East Asian Languages and Societies Commons, Ethics and Political Philosophy Commons, Ethics in Religion Commons, History of Philosophy Commons, History of Religions of Eastern Origins Commons, Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons