Cultural Philosophy of Dialogue

This course explores what it means for each of us to be a person capable of creating worlds in the light of otherness. Students will examine how leading contemporary philosophers have addressed the question of what it means to become a person. Does this depend on the individual’s free will, or are individuals shaped by their culture, community, or even by nature itself? Throughout history, perspectives on how persons relate to their surroundings – and how each influences the other – have varied widely. For example, in Western thought, some have argued that individuals are determined by external forces such as God, nature, or society, while others maintain that people are responsible for creating a diverse range of worlds. In the twentieth century, several philosophers recognised that the creative interplay between the individual and the external world must be both reciprocal and complementary. Often, this relationship has been understood as dialogical . 

The course examines significant European philosophical movements, such as personalism, existentialism, and ethical phenomenology, alongside modern Japanese Buddhist philosophy and American idealism. Lectures introduce students to the ideas of Josiah Royce (1855-1916) (the individual and the world), Nishida Kitarô (1870-1945) (the individual and its place), Emmanuel Mounier (1905-1950) (person and community), Martin Buber (1878-1965) (I and Thou), Gabriel Marcel (1889-1973) (creative fidelity), Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) (dwelling and the Thou), Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1908-1961) (intersubjectivity), Emmanuel Levinas (1905-1995) (the Other), and Mikhail Bakhtin (1895-1975). Seminars will consistently seek to relate these philosophical insights to contemporary issues within both Western and Eastern cultures. 

Lectures

1. 1. The individual, nature, and society

Royce, J. (1899-1901) The World and the Individual

1. The place of the individual in the global world

Nishida, K. (1927) “Basho” in “From the acting to the seeing” (in Japanese: Hataraku mono kara miru mono he) in Nishida Kitarô Zenshû (NKZ, Complete works of Nishida Kitarô), Vol. 2

3. Identity, relationships, and contemporary society

Nishida, K. (1932), “I and thou” (in Japanese: Watakushi to nanji) in Nishida Kitarô Zenshû (NKZ, Complete works of Nishida Kitarô), Vol. 6

4. Personal identity and life in the community

Mounier, E. (1950), Personalism

5. Dialogue and the formation of identities

Buber, M. (1923), I and Thou

6. Creativity and fidelity in the global world

Marcel, G. (1940) Creative Fidelity

7. Renewal and availability in today’s world

Marcel, G. (1944) Homo Viator

8. Other selves and the cultural world

Merleau-Ponty, M. (1962) ‘Other selves and the human world’ in Phenomenology of Perception

9. Nature, techniques, and human being

Heidegger, M. (1971) ‘Building, Dwelling, Thinking’ in Poetry, Language, Thought

10. Responsibility and the infinity of the natural, cultural and human worlds

Levinas, E. (1969)  Totality and Infinity

11. Dialogue, discourse and imagination

Bakthin, M. (1930s) The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays