Studies of Descartes's philosophy in Japan

Abstract

Abstract Extract 1996, the fourth centenary of Descartes's birth, was the occasion for innumerable celebrations all over the world. A glance at the Bulletin cartesien, xxvi (1998), issued by Equipe Descartes, reveals that there were twenty-six colloquia—412 lectures in all. This is full testimony to the timeless and diverse interest in Descartes's philosophy today. Although not listed in the Bulletin cartesien, there were also a few, albeit modest, symposia and special issues of periodicals celebrating the birth of the seventeenth-century French philosopher in Japan. Indeed around 1996 there was a veritable flurry of publications of research on Descartes by Japanese scholars. Here, I shall report on the current state of Descartes studies in Japan, but will begin first with the history of the initial reception of Western philosophy; I shall then focus on developments after 1990.