Only a couple of weeks left until the 3rd Annual Conference of the ENOJP, this time in Paris! I’m really excited about this, because the first two conferences (Barcelona 2015 and Brussels 2016) were excellent. And I am saying this for two reasons: first of all, for the quality of the presentations and keynote speeches and for the intensity of the debates; second of all, for the atmosphere of the conferences, with so much vibrant energy floating around and so many young people engaging with philosophical ideas. The ENOJP might be a nascent association, but I feel it has a lot of potential as it provides researchers in Japanese philosophy with a platform where they can share ideas, discuss projects and publications, form networks or simply become friends. I gained a lot from both conferences, and as a matter a fact I am still thinking about the homework I assigned myself in Brussels, an idea that I picked up from one of the keynotes: we should probably think of nature as a philosophical concept in a more inclusive way, in the sense that since the human being is a part of nature, everything that is man-made should also be considered a part of nature, and not of the second degree, from chairs and tables and houses to buses and planes and nuclear energy. I’m simplifying, of course, but that’s the gist of it. Food for thought…
But I digress. The conference in Paris will be held on November 2, 3 and 4 at the Université Paris-Sorbonne and the Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales (INALCO), and keynote speakers will be Emmanuel Lozerand (INALCO), Michael Lucken (INALCO) and John Maraldo (University of North Florida). I will be speaking on the first day of the conference about Tokugawa thinkers Andō Shōeki 安藤昌益 and Yamagata Bantō 山片蟠桃, focusing on their philosophical discourse on nature and the universe, and I will also be chairing some panels on the following two days.
The brochure of the conference is already up on the ENOJP website – head over there if you want more details about what’s going to happen in Paris. Loads of stuff to look forward to! I promise I’ll be back with a conference report and – who knows? – maybe another homework.