Abstract
In this paper, we introduce the Japanese philosopher Tetsurō Watsuji’s phenomenology of aidagara (“betweenness”) and use his analysis in the contemporary context of online space. We argue that Watsuji develops a prescient analysis anticipating modern technologically-mediated forms of expression and engagement. More precisely, we show that instead of adopting a traditional phenomenological focus on face-to-face interaction, Watsuji argues that communication technologies—which now include Internet-enabled technologies and spaces—are expressive vehicles enabling new forms of emotional expression, shared experiences, and modes of betweenness that would be otherwise inaccessible. Using Watsuji’s phenomenological analysis, we argue that the Internet is not simply a sophisticated form of communication technology that expresses our subjective spatiality (although it is), but that it actually gives rise to new forms of subjective spatiality itself. We conclude with an exploration of how certain aspects of our online interconnections are hidden from lay users in ways that have significant political and ethical implications.
Highlights
The Japanese philosopher Tetsurō Watsuji (1889–1960) was a broad-ranging and original thinker who developed important insights into cultural theory, ethics, religion, art, embodiment, and the self
Using Watsuji’s phenomenological analysis, we argue that the Internet is not a sophisticated form of communication technology that expresses our subjective spatiality, but that it gives rise to new forms of subjective spatiality itself
“This extendedness seems at first sight to be taken as physical space,” Watsuji tells us — “but this is not the case.”37 The felt significance of a road, for example, “has nothing to do with that physical thing that is of a certain width and length in merely physical space.”38 Rather, communication and transportation technologies are experienced not merely as physical objects but as “an expression of human connection.”39 This is because these technologies extend our sense of subjective spatiality by creating new opportunities for betweenness
Summary
The Japanese philosopher Tetsurō Watsuji (1889–1960) was a broad-ranging and original thinker who developed important insights into cultural theory, ethics, religion, art, embodiment, and the self. For Watsuji, these expressive vehicles and spaces aren’t mere add-ons to the self and its social capacities; rather, they are progressively incorporated into the self They should be seen as constitutive parts of what he terms our “subjective spatiality”—that is, part of the embodied self and the rich pathways of “subjective extendedness” that establish enduring networks of interconnections with others. We conclude with an exploration of how certain aspects of our online interconnections are hidden from lay users in ways that have significant political and ethical implications
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