Department of Philosophy

 380    (1)      Japanese Philosophy (W)                 TR     9:00-10:15     SAK C-102       ODIN


Prerequisites:    Any course 100 or above in PHIL or JPN; or consent


MEL POS:        PESTAE:        HISTORY:        


Description:

This course is an introduction to major philosophical themes and problems in Japanese thought from ancient to modern times.  First, we will examine the concepts formulated by two thinkers during the Heian period in Japan:  Saichö (Tendai Buddhism) and Kükai (Shingon “Esoteric” or Tantric Buddhism).  Next, we will study the thought of three leading figures during the Kamakura period:  Shinran (Pure Land Buddhism), Dögen (Zen Buddhism), and Nichiren (Nichiren Buddhism).  In this context, we will analyze the cultural expression of Zen Buddhism in geidö—the “Way of the Artist”—and bushidö—the “Way of the Warrior”.  This will involve a study of ideals of beauty embodied in the poetry, literature, painting, drama, film, tea ceremony, and other arts in the religio-aesthetic tradition of Japanese geidö.  Moving into the 20th century, we will finally survey the East-West syncretic philosophy of modern Japanese thinkers related to the Kyoto School, including Nishida Kitarö, Nishitani Keiji, Tanabe Hajime, Watsuji Tetsurö, and Kuki Shüzö.


Required Texts:        

T.P. Kasulis                    Zen Action/Zen Person, University of Hawaiÿi Press, 1989,
                        ISBN 0824810236
                
Steve Odin                    Artistic Detachment in Japan and the West:  Psychic Distance in                             Comparative Aesthetics, University of Hawaiÿi Press, 2001,
                        ISBN 0824823745    

Steve Odin                    The Social Self in Zen and American Pragmatism, State University of                             New York Press, 1996, ISBN 0791424928

Daisetz T. Suzuki                Zen and Japanese Culture, Princeton University Press, 1970,
                        ISBN 0691017700

Ryusaku Tsunoda; William Debary &         Sources of Japanese Tradition, Volume 1, Columbia University Press,  
    Donald Keene, eds.            1964, ISBN 0231086040

    
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