Permeating Each Others’ Hearts: Natsume Sōseki and Watsuji Tetsurō on Ethics and the Unity of Self and Other

• Autores: Graham Mayeda
• Localización: European Journal of Japanese Philosophy: EJJP, ISSN-e 2367-3095, Nº. 6, 2021, págs. 35-74
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • It is well known that philosopher Watsuji Tetsurō (1889–1960) was influenced by his teacher, author Natsume Sōseki (1867–1916). There are many indications of how profoundly Watsuji was touched by Sōseki’s unrelenting devotion to justice and fairness and his rejection of selfishness. However, the influence goes beyond this personal level: there are many aspects of Watsuji’s ethics that can be clarified through a comparison with Sōseki’s ethics of the artist set out in his works such as Theory of Literature and “The Philosophical Foundations of the Literary Arts.” This article focuses on four points at which the ethics of Sōseki and Watsuji touch: the possibility of ethics depends on the interpenetration (浸透) of the experience of self and the group; the tension (張り) inherent in human relations; the importance of pursuing ideals, which are embodied in relationships; and the transcendent status of experiencing in itself. While these basic elements of the ethics of Sōseki and Watsuji overlap, Watsuji’s phenomenological method enables him to overcome the essentialism inherent in Sōseki’s psychologism. It also enabled him to use not only the interpenetration of thoughts and experiences but also the interconnection of human acts to demonstrate the fundamental characteristics of human existence that make ethics possible—indeed, that are ethics..