UTCP participated in the Philosophy Conference “Crisis and Opportunity” at University of Hawaii, Manoa.
Thanks to Professor Graham Parkes, UTCP had a chance to collaborate with scholars at University of Hawaii.
There held a wonderful conference “Philosophy Conference: Crisis and Opportunity” in Center for Korean Studies, sponsored by Uehiro Foundation between 19th and 20th March, 2008. The organizing committee set a special session for UTCP “East Asian Philosophy in the Age of Globalization” on 19th March.
Yasuo Kobayashi, president of UTCP, gave an introductory talk on UTCP, entitled as “Co-existence in the Age of Globalization: Re-examining East Asian Philosophy.” Keishi Miyagawa, an affiliate of UTCP, talked about Tetsuro Watsuji in “Reconstructing Modern Buddhist Discourse through Shamon Dogen and the Pragmatic Philosophy of Primitive Buddhism.” And Takahiro Nakajima touched a complicated situation of Confucianism in modern East Asia in his talk “Confucianism in Prewar Japan in an East Asian Context, in Contrast with the Chinese Neo-Confucian Movement.”
The direction of the conference is not far from what UTCP is aiming to do. Especially, the keynote address of the conference entitled as “Comparative Philosophy in Crisis” by Professor Thomas Kasulis is nothing else but the problematic of UTCP.
What should be referred to is the excellent organization of the conference. We thank to the organizing committee and Professor Graham Parkes again. Next time in Tokyo soon, we will have an opportunity to listen to Professor Parkes and his picturesque works on Friedrich Nietzsche, Walter Benjamin, and Matsuo Basho.
(T. N.)