Philosophy for Unraveling Reality
Writer Profile
Shojiro Kotegawa
Other : Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Letters, Kokugakuin UniversityÎçÒ¹¾ç³¡ alumni
Shojiro Kotegawa
Other : Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Letters, Kokugakuin UniversityÎçÒ¹¾ç³¡ alumni
What does it mean to "think for yourself"? Despite encouraging students to think for themselves every day at the university, I found myself giving formulaic explanations when asked about its specific meaning. In this book, I returned to this question once more and attempted to convey the appeal of philosophy as a "practical" academic discipline in the simplest possible language for general readers.
In the introductory chapter, I presented thinking for oneself as (1) starting from experience, (2) unraveling reality, and (3) exposing oneself to questions. Each subsequent chapter is structured so that the reader and I attempt to think for ourselves about five themes: gender differences, race, parents and children, refugees, and animal life.
I am sometimes asked why I chose these five themes. While I have handled various topics in my lectures, these five eventually became "themes that I cannot live without addressing" (Senroku Uehara). I was born into a privileged family and have lived as a male member of the racial majority in Japan, never being driven from my hometown, and eating meat to survive. In short, I have lived while enjoying majority privilege regarding all these themes. How can someone in such a position expose themselves to the questions posed by issues like sexism, racism, child abuse, refugee acceptance, and the ethics of meat-eating, without viewing them as unrelated "social issues"? This is what I wanted to explore through this book. Therefore, regarding racism and refugee issues, I focused on cases occurring within Japan rather than things happening "somewhere in a distant country."
It might be seen as reckless for a philosophy researcher to discuss themes outside their specialty where a vast amount of debate has already accumulated. However, I believe there are perspectives and insights that only philosophy can provide, and I hope I have suggested a part of that in this book. At the same time, I want to change the view of philosophy that tends to regard discussing specific problems we face as a mere "application" of general theory. By staying close to concrete problems, I believe we can become aware of the one-sidedness and biases of existing philosophy, which is still Western-centric and male-centric.
Shojiro Kotegawa
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280 pages, 2,400 yen (excluding tax)
*Affiliations and titles are those at the time of publication.