Overview

The present volume endeavors to make a contribution to contemporary Whitehead studies by clarifying his axiological process metaphysics, including his theory of values, concept of aesthetic experience, and doctrine of beauty, along with his philosophy of art, literature and poetry. Moreover, it establishes an east-west dialogue focusing on how Alfred North Whitehead’s process aesthetics can be clarified by the traditional Japanese Buddhist sense of evanescent beauty. As this east-west dialogue unfolds it is shown that there are many striking points of convergence between Whitehead’s process aesthetics and the traditional Japanese sense of beauty. However, the work especially focuses on two of Whitehead’s aesthetic categories, including the penumbral beauty of darkness and the tragic beauty of perishability, while further demonstrating parallels with the two Japanese aesthetic categories of yûgen and aware. It is clarified how both Whitehead and the Japanese tradition have articulated a poetics of evanescence that celebrates the transience of aesthetic experience and the ephemerality of beauty. Finally it is argued that both Whitehead and Japanese tradition develop an aesthetics of beauty as perishability culminating in a religio-aesthetic vision of tragic beauty and its reconciliation in the supreme ecstasy of peace or nirvana.

Full Product Details

Author:   Steve Odin
Publisher:   Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Imprint:   Lexington Books
Dimensions:   Width: 15.90cm , Height: 3.20cm , Length: 23.70cm
Weight:   0.699kg
ISBN:  

9781498514774

ISBN 10:   1498514774
Pages:   356
Publication Date:   19 May 2016
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
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Table of Contents

Acknowledgments Introduction Abbreviations About the Cover I. Primacy of Aesthetics 1. Primacy of Aesthetics in Japanese Culture 2. Whitehead’s Aesthetics: Early Works 3. Whitehead’s Aesthetics: Process and Reality 4. Whitehead’s Aesthetics: Later Works 5. Whitehead’s Retrieval of Beauty 6. The Problem of Aestheticism (i) Whitehead’s Aestheticism (ii) Japanese Aestheticism II. Beauty as Aesthetic Quality 7. Whitehead’s Metaphysics of Aesthetic Quality 8. Aesthetic Quality in East-West Perspective (i) S. C. Pepper, (ii) F.S.C Northrop, (iii) R. M. Pirsig, (iv) H. N. Wieman, (v) S. K. Langer 9. Whitehead’s Doctrine of Aesthetic Qualities as Eternal Objects 10. Beauty as Synaesthesia in Whitehead, Hartshorne & Japanese Aesthetics III. A Whiteheadian Perspective on Yūgen & Aware in Japanese Aesthetics A. Penumbral Beauty 11. Penumbral Beauty of Darkness in Whitehead’s Process Aesthetics 12. Yūgen as the Beauty of Darkness in Japanese Aesthetics 13. A Whiteheadian Perspective on Yūgen in Japanese Aesthetics B. Tragic Beauty 14. Time as Discontinuous Continuity in Whitehead, Dōgen & Nishida 15. Tragic Beauty in Whitehead's Process Aesthetics 16. Aware in Japanese Aesthetics 17. A Whiteheadian Perspective on Aware in Japanese Aesthetics 18. Tragic Beauty and Peace in Whitehead & Japanese Aesthetics Endnotes Bibliography Glossary

Reviews

Tragic Beauty in Whitehead and Japanese Aesthetics embodies the best in comparative philosophy. Both Whitehead and various Japanese thinkers (Dogen, Nishida, etc.) are mutually illuminated in this clear and insightful study. Further, readers who are interested in the crucial issue of tragic beauty will be edified by the author's treatment of this topic even if they are not experts in Whitehead or Japanese thought. Highly recommended! -- Daniel A. Dombrowski, professor of philosophy, Seattle University

[Tragic Beauty in Whitehead and Japanese Aesthetics] will be intriguing and stimulating not only to those scholars who engage in Whitehead studies but also to those who are concerned with the development of an East-West dialogue on aesthetics and aesthetic education. * Journal of Aesthetic Education * Tragic Beauty in Whitehead and Japanese Aesthetics embodies the best in comparative philosophy. Both Whitehead and various Japanese thinkers (Dogen, Nishida, etc.) are mutually illuminated in this clear and insightful study. Further, readers who are interested in the crucial issue of tragic beauty will be edified by the author's treatment of this topic even if they are not experts in Whitehead or Japanese thought. Highly recommended! -- Daniel A. Dombrowski, professor of philosophy, Seattle University

Tragic Beauty in Whitehead and Japanese Aesthetics embodies the best in comparative philosophy. Both Whitehead and various Japanese thinkers (Dogen, Nishida, etc.) are mutually illuminated in this clear and insightful study. Further, readers who are interested in the crucial issue of tragic beauty will be edified by the author's treatment of this topic even if they are not experts in Whitehead or Japanese thought. Highly recommended! -- Daniel A. Dombrowski, Seattle University

[Tragic Beauty in Whitehead and Japanese Aesthetics] will be intriguing and stimulating not only to those scholars who engage in Whitehead studies but also to those who are concerned with the development of an East-West dialogue on aesthetics and aesthetic education. * Journal of Aesthetic Education * Tragic Beauty in Whitehead and Japanese Aesthetics embodies the best in comparative philosophy. Both Whitehead and various Japanese thinkers (Dogen, Nishida, etc.) are mutually illuminated in this clear and insightful study. Further, readers who are interested in the crucial issue of tragic beauty will be edified by the author’s treatment of this topic even if they are not experts in Whitehead or Japanese thought. Highly recommended! -- Daniel A. Dombrowski, Seattle University

Author Information

Steve Odin teaches Japanese and East-West comparative philosophy at the University of Hawaii, where he has taught for more than thirty years.

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