L3 engages the ICCT (International Centre for Critical Theory), an international consortium (Beijing University, New York University, East China Normal University, Yonsei University), and develops the study of comparative politics for co-existence in the era of global capitalism. ICCT is an international network which promotes innovative research exchange and personnel training. Under the banner of multilingualism and multiculturalism, L3 will develop several research projects, setting up an international cooperation on literary criticism, cultural criticism, and social thought. Essentially, L3 will explore comparative politics from Chinese philosophical perspectives. In recent years, interest in traditional thought, with a focus on Confucianism, has been growing rapidly in the Chinese-speaking world. The ethics of modern society are discussed as major themes in L3, and the various aspects of distancing between ethics and various types of politics are engaged. Examining these ethics and types of politics, L3 will consider how we construct the ethics for co-existence from Chinese thought and examine how a politics of co-existence may be possible. L3 will promote a new education program that fosters and supports young researchers to be in the position to produce knowledge. The goal of the ICCT’s human resource development is to train young researchers to critically consider literature, culture, and society in a humanities specific way. Ultimately, the goal of L3 is to enable young researchers to acquire the necessary skills to analyze literature, culture and society, to express their own ideas and to participate in decision-making process in regard to culture and education. L3 makes the best use of the network resources and human resource development of the ICCT, and undertakes practical education of young researchers, transforming their thinking to develop the ‘politics of co-existence’.

Coordinator: ISHII Tsuyoshi (The University of Tokyo)