International Conference about Classical Japanese Philosophy

Conference/workshop "Classical Japanese philosophy: context,
interpretation, development" takes place at Tallinn University, 20-23 May,
2010.The rapid modernisation of Japan after the Meiji period brought along
a wave of cultural import comparable only to the Chinese-mediated
continental influence on the emerging Japanese state during the Asuka and
Nara periods. Whole new disciplines and areas of knowledge were
established, previous cultural practices restructured and Western models
tried out in almost all spheres of life. But soon enough the tendency to
import turned into a need for synthesis: the cultural practices of modern
Japan came largely to be based on creative reinterpretations of received
practices, and the mutual influence of Western and traditional ways of
thinking about things.This is also true of Japanese philosophy, which made
the effort to combine the domestic heritage and Western thought and to
synthesize on this basis a new conceptual language for describing reality.
But the influence on the contemporary Japanese cultural system of classical
thought, notably the philosophical views of Dōgen and Shinran, goes even
deeper and is reflected not only in philosophical arguments, but also in
the social and cultural practices of Japan, past and
presentProgrammeThursday, May 20Conference site: Tallinn University,
Uus-Sadama Str 5 (Mare building), M-22516.00 - Gereon Kopf (Luther College)
– “Neither Good Nor Evil: A Non dualistic Ethics for Today”17.00 -
John C. Maraldo (University of North Florida) – “Negotiating the Divide
of Death in Japanese Buddhism: Dōgen’s Difference”19.00 Opening sauna
(Reval Hotel Olympia, Liivalaia 33)Friday, May 21 Conference site: Tallinn
University, Uus-Sadama Str 5 (Mare building), Riho Pätsi saal (M-213)9.45
- Graham Parkes (University College Cork) – “Body-Mind and
Buddha-Nature: Dōgen’s Deeper Ecology“10.30 - Rein Raud (Tallinna
Ülikool) – “Inside the Concept: Rethinking Dōgen’s
language”11.15-11.30 -  coffee break11.30 - Aleksi Järvelä
(University of Helsinki) – “Aconceptual Language, Atemporal Time - An
Alternative View of Time in Dōgen”12.15 - Margus Ott, Alari Allik
(Tallinna Ülikool) – “Time of Practice Is Practicing”
Time”13.00-15.00 - lunch break 15.00 - Ralf Müller (Humboldt University)
– “The Religion and Philosophy of Dōgen15.45 - Laurentiu Andrei
(Blaise Pascal University) – “Self and other. A parallel between Dōgen
and Nishida” 16.30 - Martin Doesch (Erlangen University) – „Escaping
existence vs. ordering the world: Dōgen and Shao Yong – conceptions of
time in Buddhism and Neo-Confucianism”Saturday, May 22Conference site:
Tallinn University, Uus-Sadama Str 5 (Mare building), Riho Pätsi saal
(M-213)9.45 - Thomas P. Kasulis (Ohio State University) – “The Ground
of Translation: Issues in Translating Premodern Japanese Philosophy”
10.30 - Uehara Mayuko (Meisei University) – “The Concept of Translation
in Edo period”11.15-11.30 - coffee break11.30 - Dennis Hirota (Ryukoku
University) – “The Phenomenology of Religious Life in Shinran and
Heidegger212.15 - Takako Saito (Centre d’Études Japonaises / Institut
des Langues et Civilisations Orientales, Paris, Université du Havre) –
“Searching for an encounter with the Absolute being: Kuki Shūzō and the
ideas of Shinran”13.00-15.00 - lunch break15.00 - Laeticia Söderman
(University of Helsinki) – “The Logic of the Enlightenment Paths:
Tanabe, Shinran and the Ideal State”15.45 - Miika Pölkki (University of
Helsinki) – “Tanabe’s Shu no ronri as Dynamic Atemporal Savage Logic:
Re-Thinking Logical Underpinnings of Classical Japanese Philosophy”16.30
- Matteo Cestari (University of Turin) – “Between Empitiness and
Absolute Nothingness. Reflections about Negation in Buddhism and the Kyōto
School” Sunday, May 23Conference site: Tallinn University, Uus-Sadama Str
5 (Mare building), Riho Pätsi saal (M-213)9.45 - Steffen Doell (Munich
University) – “No heart, no illusions. A conceptual history of
mushin” 10.30 - Yoko Takau-Drobin (The Royal Institute of Technology,
Stockholm) – “Establishing the academic subject history in
Meiji-Japan” 11.15 - James W. Heisig (Nanzan Institute, Nagoya) –
“Nishida’s Deodorized Basho and the Scent of Zeami’s Flower” 12.00
- Conlusions and closing receptionFurther information: Lauri Kitsnik,
lauri.kitsnik@tlu.ee, 56664377