Faculty of Letters

Department of Philosophy

The department consists of three divisions; Philosophy and Ethics, Comparative study of Religions (History of Religions), Art History and Aesthetics. Choosing one of them in the end of first-year, students concentrate on it as ones' major from the second-year on. In all the divisions , the curriculum is systematically arranged for preparation of writing B.A. thesis, and moreover, is full of flexibility. As the requisite courses are not many, students can get, if hope, many credits from the other divisions. Therefore, each students can plentifully learn and study what one needs according to one's own concern.

(1) Philosophy and Ethics

    Students learn mainly the history and basic concepts of Western philosophy and Ethics from the ancient Greek and the Medieval to the contemporary age. Based on such knowledge , students choose and concentrate on one's own topic such as the self, the other, language, truth, reason and ethical thoughts. Courses related to Bioethics and Environmental Ethics are also offered. It is required that students learn to philosophically think by themselves.

(2) Comparative study of religions ( History of Religions )

    The history of religions studies all kinds of religions. There are offered several courses related to Buddhism, Japanese religious thoughts, Islam and ancient primitive religions. While learning the diversity and multiple aspects of religions, students also learn various approaches, metnodologies and theories of religious studies. Besides, students are required to consider generally the meanings of life and death, the sacred, salvation and sin, rituals, in a word, what religion is.

(3) Art History and Aesthetics
    Students can learn historically and practically both the Japanese, Chinese and Asian arts, crafts and architectures, and the European and Western ones. In addition to appreciation in class, visiting exhibitions and researches of temples and shrines are arranged. Students also learn meanings of historical styles, and structural analyses of visual and plastic arts, and further, think about what motivates man to create arts. All courses help to train students for curatorship, and for practical verification of arts.

List of Faculty Members(Name, Main Class and Research Themes)

Professor

INOUE Katsuhito          Comparative Studies of Eastern and Western Thoughts
                         Philosophy of Religions
                         Japanese traditional thoughts
                         Dogen and Japanese Buddhism
                         Phenomenological approach to Zen-Buddhism
                         Heideger's Philosophy
                         Nishida Kitaro's Philosophy 

KIOKA Nobuo              Philosophy
                         Ethics
                         Philosophy of life
                         Environmental Ethics  

MONOBE Koji              Aesthetics and history of art
                         Philosophical inquiry into art
                         Hermeneutics of Visual Art 
NAKATANI Nobuo           History of art in the Far East
                         Edo Paintings
                         Japanese modern paintings
                         Comparative studies of modern Japanese and European painting

ODA Yoshiko              History of Religions
                         Islam 
                         General and methodological study of religions

SHINAGAWA Tetsuhiko      Ethics
                         Philosophy
                         Phenomenology
                         Ethics 
                         Bioethics

YAMAMOTO Ikuo            Philosophy
                         Modern Philosophy
                         Metaphysics and Heidegger's philosophy
                         Historical change of the concept "Reality"
                         
YAMAOKA Taizo            History of art in the Far East
                         Suibokuga paintings
                         Screen-paintings in Momoyama period

Associate Professor

FUSHIMI Hidetoshi        Buddhist Studies
                         Tibetology

MIMURA Naohiko           Philosophy
                         Phenomenology
                         Contemporary philosophy

MIYAMOTO Yotaro          History of Religions

NAKAZAWA Tsutomu         Western Ancient-times Philosophy

NINAGAWA Junko           Art History
                         Early Netherlandish Art
                         Mirror and Painting

Departments
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