Philosophy for Unraveling Reality
Writer Profile
Shojiro Kotegawa
Other : Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Letters, Kokugakuin UniversityKeio University alumni
Shojiro Kotegawa
Other : Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Letters, Kokugakuin UniversityKeio University alumni
2020/06/22
What does it mean to "think for oneself"? — Even though I encourage students to think for themselves every day at the university, I found myself giving formulaic explanations when asked about its specific meaning. In this book, I returned to this question once more and attempted to convey the appeal of philosophy as a "practical" discipline to general readers in the simplest language possible.
In the introductory chapter, I presented thinking for oneself as (1) starting from experience, (2) unraveling reality, and (3) exposing oneself to questions. Each chapter is structured so that the reader and I attempt to think for ourselves about five themes: gender differences, race, parents and children, refugees, and animal life.
I am sometimes asked why I chose these five themes. While I have covered various topics in my lectures, these five eventually became "themes that I cannot live without addressing" (Senroku Uehara). I was born into a privileged family and have lived as a male member of the racial majority in Japan, never being displaced from my home and eating meat. In short, I have lived while enjoying majority privilege regarding all these themes. How can someone in such a position expose themselves to the questions posed by issues like sexism, racism, child abuse, refugee acceptance, and the ethics of eating meat, without viewing them as "social issues" unrelated to themselves? This is what I wanted to explore through this book. Therefore, even with racism and refugee issues, I focused on cases occurring within Japan rather than things happening "somewhere in a distant country."
It might be seen as reckless for a philosophy researcher outside the field to discuss themes that have a vast accumulation of debate in their respective specialized areas. However, I believe there are perspectives and insights that only philosophy can provide, and I hope to have suggested some of them in this book. At the same time, I want to change the view of philosophy that tends to regard discussing specific problems we face as a mere "application" of general theory. By staying close to concrete issues, I believe we can become aware of the one-sidedness and biases of existing philosophy, which remains Western-centric and male-centric.
*Affiliations and titles are as of the time of publication.