Editors' introduction

Abstract

This anthology is published under the auspices of the award-winning research network “Nature, Time, Responsibility” (NTR), which began its operations in 2011 and is led by Hiroshi Abe (Kyoto University, Japan), Matthias Fritsch (Concordia University, Montreal, Canada), and Mario Wenning (Loyola University, Andalusia, Spain). NTR promotes sustained intercultural dialogue on the topic of moral, legal, and political responsibilities to future generations and to nature across time. The chapters of the present volume, all previously unpublished, focus on the contributions of traditions that have originated in East Asia, in particular Buddhism and Daoism, and their relationship to ideas and philosophers in European traditions. In a unique constellation of environmental and intercultural philosophy, the chapters present systematic approaches to the global need for cultivating environmental responsibility across cultures and generations to address the political, ethical, and aesthetic challenges arising from humanity’s transformative impact on the natural world.