NEWS

2023.01.19

【Report】The 12th AJI Book Launch took place on December 14, 2022. Matsui Nobuyuki (ed.), Globally Shared Common Sense from the Philosophy of Imagination: Bridging Eastern and Western Perspectives (Asia-Japan Research Institute, Ritsumeikan U

The 12th AJI Book Launch was held on Wednesday, December 14. This time, the e-book, edited by MATSUI Nobuyuki (Assistant Professor, OIC Research Organization, Ritsumeikan University), titled Globally Shared Common Sense from the Philosophy of Imagination: Bridging Eastern and Western Perspectives (published by the Asia-Japan Research Institute, Ritsumeikan University in September 2022) was featured. And Dr. Matsui and Dr. Fernando WIRTZ (Assistant Professor, Faculty of Letters, Kyoto University), who is one of the authors, spoke of the background and discussions of this book. Dr. Maddalena BOLSERT (Senior Researcher, College of Gastronomy Management, Ritsumeikan University) moderated this event.

Drawing on concepts such as “common sense” and “imagination”, this book asks how we can recognize the importance of imagination in the contemporary world from various perspectives, including Japanese and Western philosophy, cognitive science, and media and technology theories. With this question in mind, Dr. Matsui began by explaining that it is possible to understand the phenomenon of digitalization from the concept of the “place of nothingness”, centering on the relationship between Nishida Kitarō and Nakamura Yujiro. Next, Dr. Wirtz talked about the importance of reconstructing the intellectual culture that was shaped during and after the war, focusing not only on Miki Kiyoshi and Tosaka Jun, who were dealt with in this book, but also on Nakai Masakazu and Saigusa Hiroto, who are relatively on the margins of the Kyoto School.

In the Q&A session, participants eagerly shared discussions on questions such as what it means for “common sense” to be described as “global” and how “common sense” in philosophy has been discussed, which are very significant points for understanding the entire discussion of this book.

Dr. Matsui reporting on this edited book

Dr. Wirtz delivering the report on his Chapter

The Q&A session (Right: Dr. BOLSERT)