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On the Existence of Japanese Philosophy

August 22, 2017 By Clarizza Johnston

Japanese philosophy was inextricably associated with aesthetics, culture, ethics, politics, and religion and wasn’t practiced as a distinct discipline in itself. The most distinctive characteristic of Japanese philosophy is how foreign philosophies has been assimilated and adapted to its native worldview. Historically, Japan experienced periods of intense cultural and political exchange with the Korean peninsula and China, followed by long periods of isolation when it successfully resisted foreign invasion until 1945. And although it borrowed ideas freely throughout its history, there is always a distinctively Japanese cultural context in Japanese philosophy.

Kitetsugaku, the Japanese term for philosophy (abbreviated from kikyū tetsuchi, “the science of seeking wisdom”), was coined by Nishi Amane in 1862 and was abbreviated further, twelve years later, to now the standard tetsugaku. A word describing something the Japanese perceived sometimes favorably, as a necessary condition to develop a modern society, sometimes with distrust, as a loss of spirituality or an ethnocentric menace, but always as foreign and completely alien to their culture. This led Nakae Chōmin, a Japanese journalist, political theorist and statesman in Meiji-period, to declare in 1901 that: from antiquity to the present day, there has never been any philosophy in Japan.Continue Reading

Forgive but Don’t Forget: the Question of the Comfort Women

October 25, 2014 By Teresa Martinez

We’ve written about forgiveness quite a lot lately; without it, one cannot move on. Repressed anger has a way of keeping us blocked, unable to let go and look to the future. It’s something Colleen Haggerty, who lost her leg in an automobile accident at 17, spoke about most powerfully in this must-watch TED talk last year:Continue Reading

Forgiveness – the Key to Inner Peace

August 2, 2013 By Teresa Martinez

With or without any religious association, forgiveness is said to be the key to inner peace. Bearing a grudge or harboring bitterness in one’s heart for a fault committed by another is one of the reasons for the elusiveness of peace. The failure or rejection of forgiveness is also known to wreck havoc on the health and well-being of people.Continue Reading

The Philosophy Behind Music

June 24, 2013 By Teresa Martinez

Nothing touches the basic emotions of man more than music. It is able to transcend the many obstacles of language, meaning, and cultural differences. Music as a philosophical study has actual relation to aesthetics and metaphysics. But more than this complicated aspect is the effect music has on everyday living.Continue Reading

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