Contemporary Philosophical Perspectives on Japanese Aesthetics

This collection expands the kinds of concepts and practices that are usually considered in Japanese aesthetics, as well as shedding light on aesthetic concepts and practices from Western artistic traditions.

The study of Japanese aesthetic traditions shows the deep connections between aesthetics, ethics, and politics, and the contributors take a self-consciously cosmopolitan approach to philosophizing on the topic. For instance, they understand Japanese aesthetics in relation not only to Shinto and Buddhist religious traditions that heavily inform both traditional and modern works but also to Early Indian Buddhism and to historical and contemporary European philosophy. Edited by A. Minh Nguyen and Yarran Hominh, the collection highlights the relational holism—process, impermanence, relationality—of artistic works, and it takes a distinctly philosophical approach, but one that problematizes distinctions between aesthetics, ethics, metaphysics, and politics. The book exemplifies the philosophical and conceptual breadth and importance of Japanese aesthetics.