Ethical principles including autonomy, justice and equality function in the same paradigm of thought, that is, logocentrism - an epistemological predilection that relies on the analytic power of deciphering between binary oppositions. By studying observable behavior with an analytical approach, however, one immediately limits any recognition and possible understanding of modes of thought based on separate epistemologies. This article seeks to reveal an epistemological predilection that diverges from logocentrism yet continues to function as a fundamental component of ethical behavior. The (...) issue of cancer disclosure in Japan is used to exemplify the nature of relative subjectivity (kankeiteki-shukansei), a term I define and believe to be an epistemological predisposition fundamental to ethical behavior. Relative subjectivity denotes an epistemology quintessential to the behavior of individuals who attend to the respective tides of each particular situation, each interpersonal relationship or, in the context of clinical medicine, to the needs and values of each patient. (shrink)

The paper provides an overview of the rise of Japanese philosophy during the period of rapid modernization in Japan after the Meiji Restoration (beginning in the 1860s). It also examines the controversy surrounding Japanese philosophy towards the end of the Pacific War (1945), and its renewal in the contemporary context. The post-Meiji thinkers engaged themselves with the questions of universality and particularity; the former represented science, medicine, technology, and philosophy (understood as ) and the latter, the Japanese non-Western tradition. Within (...) the context, the question arose whether or not Japan, the only non-Western nation to succeed in modernization at the time, could also offer a philosophy that was universal in scope? Could Japanese philosophy offer an alternative form of modernity to the global domination of Western modernity? In this historical context, the philosophies of Kitaro Nishida and Tetsuro Watsuji, two of the tradition's most prominent thinkers, are introduced. Nishida is considered the and his followers came to be known as the . The essay ends with a brief reflection on the influence of philosophy on culture, focusing on the aftermath of the tsunami catastrophe in 2011. (shrink)

Resumen: La investigación se ciñe en el análisis del primer periodo de producción filosófica del filósofo japonés NISHIDA Kitarô (1870-1945) y, con tal motivo, se ciñe al estudio de tres de sus obras: Estudio sobre el Bien (1911), Intuición y Reflexión en la Autoconciencia (1917) y Arte y Moral (1923). Con ello, se trata de responder a la necesidad de presentar una aproximación factible y plausible cuyo objetivo es arrojar luz sobre las consecuencias que resultan del enfoque psicologista y voluntarista (...) que marca la primera etapa de la filosofía de Nishida. Con ello se quiere clarificar hasta qué punto, bajo qué condiciones y cómo, Nishida maneja determinada idea de subjetividad y, específicamente, cómo con ello pone sobre la mesa todo un conjunto de interrogantes comunes a la modernidad que permean en los presupuestos epistemológicos, éticos y en el estudio de la creación y apreciación artísticas. Abstract: The research presents an analysis of the first period of philosophical production of the Japanese philosopher NISHIDA Kitarô (1870-1945). For that reason, it presents the inquiry around three of his major works: Inquiry into the Good (1911), Intuition and Reflection in Self-consciousness (1917), and Art and Morality (1923). The aim is to respond to the necessity of introduce a feasible and plausible approximation that wants to throw light about the consequences resulting from a psychologist and voluntarist point of view typical of the first period of Nishida's works. It wants to clarify the conditions and how Nishida uses certain idea about subjectivity and, especially, how is conduced his asking about some epistemological, ethical as well as artistic schemes shared and common to philosophical modernity. (shrink)