Husserl's Ethics and Social Philosophy in Context.
The Kaizo Articles Centenary Conference
4–6 May, 2023
Okayama University, Japan

Header image: Husserl's copy of Kaizo. © Husserl Archives, KU Leuven

Introduction

Husserl’s series of papers on renewal for the Japanese journal Kaizo between 1923 and 1924, also known as the “Kaizo Articles,” are significant for phenomenological studies in several ways.

First, the Kaizo Articles (including those that remained unpublished in the 1920s) consist of substantial discussions of two topics that have been the focus of recent Husserl scholarship: Ethics and social philosophy. On the one hand, they document Husserl’s view on how one ought to live in his transitional period from the Göttingen ethics to the later ethics of love (Melle 2002). For him in the Articles, "renewal" first and foremost has to do with renewing an individual's life ethically. On the other hand, the Articles and related texts from the 1920s present a set of problems that he started to consider seriously in this period: How subjects form a community in various manners. Given that (at least the first three of) the Articles are works Husserl himself published during his lifetime, they should serve as an essential source in research on those topics.

Second, the Kaizo Articles touch, however obliquely and incompletely, upon problems at the intersection of ethics and social philosophy, which Husserl deals with under the name of “social ethics.” According to him, the question of how one ought to live, and thus the notion of renewal, applies to a certain kind of community called “personality of higher order.” Despite two pioneering works (Schuhmann 1988, Hart 1990), we have yet to thoroughly discuss this topic.

Third, the Kaizo Articles occupy an interesting position in the development of Husserl’s thought. Following Welton (1990), we could characterize them as a prototype of his last and unfinished work, The Crisis of European Sciences and Transcendental Phenomenology. However, this does not undermine the significance of the Kaizo Articles. As written above, they deal with topics such as ethics and social philosophy (including social ethics), which, to be fair, do not come to the fore in Crisis. What accounts for the difference in topic between the two published works? Answering this question should deepen our understanding of the later Husserl.

Last but not least, the Kaizo Articles are a trace of phenomenology’s first encounter with a non-European/Western culture. Successfully or not, Husserl undertook to discuss his ethics of renewal and the role of phenomenology in it for Japanese readers. What meaning could such an event have had in Japan at that time? This question, which we have hardly addressed, will lead to a global history of phenomenology in a more substantial sense.


The present conference, which celebrates the 100th anniversary of Husserl’s Kaizo Articles, aims to bring to light some of the above-mentioned aspects of the work. Starting from a (set of) passage(s) from the Articles, speakers are asked to address one (or more) of the following topics:


This conference is part of the Okayama-Leuven joint conference on Husserl's Kaizo Articles. The Leuven edition of the conference will be held in September 11–13, 2023. For the details, see the conference page: Husserl's Ethics in the Global Context.

References
Hart, J. G. (1990). The Person and the Common Life: Studies in a Husserlian Social Ethic. Martinus Nijhoff.
Melle, U. (2002). Edmund Husserl: From Reason to Love. In: Phenomenological Approaches to Moral Philosophy, Springer.
Schuhmann, K. (1989). Husserls Staatsphilosophie. Alber.
Welton, D. (1991). Husserl and the Japanese. The Review of Metaphysics, 44(3), 575–606.


Date

4–6 May 2023

Venue

Faculty of Letters Meeting Room, Faculty of Letters, Law, and Economics Building No.1, Tsushima Campus, Okayama University, Japan.

(At this moment, we do not plan to broadcast the conference online)

Speakers

Emanuele Caminada (KU Leuven)

Sara Heinämaa (University of Jyväskylä)

Julia Jansen (KU Leuven)

Christopher Keaveney (Rikkyo University, Tokyo)

Sophie Loidolt (TU Darmstadt)

Manuela Massa (JSPS/Okayama University)

Shigeru Taguchi (Hokkaido University)

Genki Uemura (Okayama University) & Toru Yaegashi (Hiroshima Institute of Technology)

Takashi Yoshikawa (Konan University)

Thomas Vongehr (KU Leuven)

Dan Zahavi (University of Copenhagen)

Time Table

Day 1 (4 May, 12:50–18:10)

12:50–13:00
Opening Adress

Session 1 (Moderators: Genki Uemura, Takashi Suzuki)

13:00–14:00
Christopher Keaveney (Rikkyo University, Tokyo)
“Yamamoto Sanehiko, Kaizō, and the Role of Comprehensive Magazines in Interwar Japan: The Context for Husserl’s ‘Kaizo Articles’” (Abstract)

14:20–15:20
Genki Uemura (Okayama University) & Toru Yaegashi (Hiroshima Institute of Technology)
“Husserl’s Kaizo Articles in Japan. A Failed Attempt?” (Abtract)

15:40–16:40
Shigeru Taguchi (Hokkaido University)
“Husserl and Tanabe on Mediated Subjectivity and Community” (Abstract)

17:00–18:00
Takashi Yoshikawa (Konan University, Kobe)
 “The Ethics of Knowing in Husserl: Describing the Moral Experience of Scientists Involved in Minamata” (Abstract)

Reception 


Day 2 (5 May, 9:30–17:10)

Session 2 (Moderator: Shigeru Taguchi)

9:30–10:30
Dan Zahavi (University of Copenhagen)
“Social Acts and Higher-Order Personalities”  (Abstract)

10:50–11:50
Thomas Vongehr (KU Leuven)
“What Does Radical Self-Reflection Have to Do With Renewal? The Role of Phenomenological Reduction in Husserl’s Kaizo Articles” (Abstract)

11:50–13:20  Lunch Break

Session 3 (Moderators: Toru Yaegashi, Takashi Yoshikawa)

13:20–14:20
Manuela Massa (JSPS/Okayama University)
“Erneuerung” as “Phantasie”? A Dialogue between Heidegger and Husserl” (Abstract)

14:40–15:40
Emanuele Caminada (KU Leuven)
“Traditions, Renewal, and Global Culture. A European Perspective?" (Abstract)

16:00–17:00
Sara Heinämaa (University of Jyväskylä)
“Guiding Values and Imperatives: Renewal as an Ethical Principle” (Abstract)

Dinner (for the speakers only)


Day 3 (6 May, 9:30–12:20)

Session 4 (Modarator: Genki Uemura)

9:30-10:30
Julia Jansen (KU Leuven)
“What Do Essences Have to Do With Renewal? Eidetics in Husserl's Kaizo Articles" (Abstract)

10:50–11:50
Sophie Loidolt (TU Darmstadt)
“Philosophy as a Form of Life. The Political Pitfalls of an Ideal-Typical Consideration” (Abstract)

11:50–12:10
Closing Words

Pre-Conference Event

Okayama Phenomenology Workshop for Early-Career Researchers

Date: 3 May 2023, 14:00–17:00

Venue: Faculty of Letters Meeting Room, Faculty of Letters, Law, and Economics Building No.1, Tsushima Campus, Okayama University

Time Table:

14:00–14:40
Maiko Sakai (Ritsumeikan University) "What Makes a "Transparent" Body Possible?: On Intersectional Identity and Discrimination"

15:00–15:40
Kohei Yanagawa (Ritsumeikan University) "Enactivism and Phenomenological Time-Theory" 

16:00–16:40
Amane Watahiki (Tohoku University) "Husserl and Phenomenal Intentionality"

16:40–17:00
General Discussion - Discussants: Masami Ishii (JSPS/Univeristy of Tokyo), Shigehiko Hayashi (Hokkaido University)

Pre-Registration

As seating is limited, we kindly request that all attendees pre-register for the conference from this form.

Contact the Organizer

Genki Uemura: uemurag@okayama-u.ac.jp

Credit

This conference is funded by a grant-in-aid for scientific research (KAKENHI) from JSPS (Project No.: 20H01177) and supported by the following institutions.