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Ph.D. (Human and Environmental Studies) (Kyoto University)
My research is based on (1) research into contemporary Western philosophy, with a focus on Martin Heidegger, a philosopher who represents the 20th century and is based on (2) Japanese philosophy (particularly Kuki Shuzo) and Intercultural philosophy, and (3) the application of Heidegger to the philosophy of technology.
The main question that lies behind my research is how we should grasp the reality that is pressing down on us, whether we accept it or not. The keywords of my research, such as truth, community (or communality), finitude, contingency, culture, and technology, are all related to this concern.
The three pillars of my research are connected to the following research projects.
1. A unified interpretation of Heidegger’s thought focusing on the concept of ‘aletheia’ (truth, trueness)
2. Research on the history of Heidegger’s reception, with a focus on Japanese philosophy and on intercultural philosophy
3. Re-examination of Heidegger’s criticism in the philosophy of technology and re-evaluation of Heidegger’s theory of technology
1. Heidegger’s interpretation focusing on the concept of ‘aletheia
Since my master’s course, I have been engaged in research on Heidegger, focusing on the concept of “aletheia”.
The results of this research were compiled in my doctoral thesis, “Un-concealment and Finitude: The Problem of” Aletheia’ and ‘We’ in Heidegger’.
Rather than thinking of truth as ‘the correctness of things’, Heidegger considers the ‘manifestation’ that makes up that ‘correctness’ to be truth (which is why I translate the word ‘Wahrheit’ as ‘trueness’ rather than ‘truth’).
This idea comes from the fact that the ancient Greek word ‘aletheia’, which corresponds to the word ‘truth’ in English, can also mean ‘unconcealment’.
The aim of my research is, first of all, to interpret his entire thought as a search for this aletheia.
By focusing on the concept of aletheia, I believe it is possible to trace the continuous motifs that lead from the ‘existential’ truth of his early thought to the truth in ‘works of art’ of his middle thought and to the truth in ‘language’ and ‘technology’ of his late thought.
On the other hand, Heidegger’s concept of ‘aletheia’ is linked to problematic concepts.
This is particularly the case with the concept of ‘folk’ in his middle thought, which is often discussed in relation to his involvement with the Nazis.
Heidegger considers ‘folk’ as a way of our being that relates to ‘existence’ and ‘aletheia’, which are the subjects of his lifelong exploration.
Even if this ‘folk’ cannot be immediately associated with a specific ethnicity, it should be able to imply the exclusivity of a community related to aletheia.
In emphasising the historicity and uniqueness of our existence and our relationship to aletheia, Heidegger provides a critical perspective on easy globalism, but at the same time, it could be said that this inevitably leads to the exclusivity of a community that shares arethia.
This problem leads to the second pillar of my research.
2. Research into Japanese philosophy and intercultural philosophy
My research aims to explore a path for intercultural dialogue that respects the uniqueness of cultures without simply homogenising cultural differences.
To this end, I have been researching Japanese philosophy alongside Heidegger’s philosophy.
Japanese philosophy, including the work of Tanabe Hajime, Watsuji Tetsuro and Kuki Shuzo, has actively embraced Heidegger’s philosophy.
Through the study of Japanese philosophy, we can consider how we, as people from different cultural spheres, can take on Heidegger’s issues and his way of thinking.
I am thinking of developing my research on Heidegger’s concept of aletheia into intercultural philosophy research, building on my research into Japanese philosophy.
At present, I am focusing on Heidegger’s thoughts on language, in particular his concept of ‘silence’, and am working on the question of how we should think about intercultural dialogue.
I hope that this research will also contribute to thinking about the nature of international exchange in the modern era of globalisation.
3. Heidegger and the philosophy of technology
Recently, I have been working on the issue of modern technology based on my research of Heidegger.
Although Heidegger’s theory of technology has had a significant influence up to the present day, it has also been the target of criticism on the grounds that it is ‘pessimistic’ or a ‘romanticism’.
However, Heidegger’s criticism in the field of philosophy of technology is based on a philological misunderstanding, and so it is necessary to refute it from the perspective of Heidegger studies.
In addition, I believe that Heidegger’s theory of technology, despite its abstract impression, is rich in important suggestions that illuminate the problems of technology in the modern age.
Therefore, by re-examining the position of Heidegger’s theory of technology in the context of the philosophy of technology, I aim to enrich and develop the recent discussion of the philosophy of technology.
In addition, according to Heidegger, the problems of modern technology are closely linked to the history of Western metaphysics.
With this in mind, I am trying to consider the problems of the philosophy of technology from an intercultural perspective while taking Heidegger’s theory of technology seriously, as Yuk Hui has been doing in recent years.