Takeshi MORISATO

Youth self-identity, religion, Japan

Takeshi Morisato received a PhD in philosophy from the KU Leuven in 2016 for a dissertation on comparative philosophy of religion in reference to the works of Tanabe Hajime and William Desmond. As part of the GENEsYs project, Takeshi’s research aimed at articulating the philosophical significance of the Shikoku pilgrimage as a kind of “religious experience,” contributing to the constitution of youth self-identity in Japan. He is currently serving as the editor of the European Journal of Japanese Philosophy (EJJP) and the book series from Chisokudō Publications, “Studies in Japanese Philosophy.” His research interests include the Kyoto School, metaxology, metanoetics, and world philosophies.

Publications

Faith and Reason in Continental and Japanese Philosophy: Reading Tanabe Hajime and William Desmond, London: Bloomsbury, 269 pp.
Asian Philosophical Texts: Exploring Hidden Sources. Milan: Mimesis International. 320 pp.
“Tanabe and the Concept of Species: Approaching Nature as a Missing Shade in the Logic of Species,” Natural Born Monads. Edited by Andrea Altobrando and Pierpaolo Cesaroni. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.
“The Sense of Being Religious From the Viewpoint of Betweenness: How Can the Japanese Sense of Being Human and Religious Be Meaningful for the West?” in W. Desmond and D. Vanden Auweele (eds), Narrating Secularisms: Being between Identities in a Secularized World, Washington D.C.: The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy Series, pp. 121–144.

GENEsYs Events

GENEsYs Mid-Term Conference - "Conference Transformation of youth identities in East/South Asia". 27 May 2019, Université libre de Bruxelles
GENEsYs 1st Exhibition - "Meet the Millennials. Connecting the Millenials. Connecting a Creative Generation in East and West. 28 May 2019, Université libre de Bruxelles
GENEsYs Workshop n°1 - "Youth religion identities: Landscapes, Pilgrimages and the Creation, Representation and Transformation of the ‘Sacred’". 17-18 Mai 2018, Université Libre de Bruxelles
GENEsYs Keynote - "Landscapes, Pilgrimages and the Creation, Representation and Transformation of the ‘Sacred’". 17 Mai 2018, Université Libre de Bruxelles
GENEsYs Lecture - "The future of religion: a comparison Europe/Japan, new generations, new religions, new media". 16 Mai 2018, Université Libre de Bruxelles

Other events

“On Ambivalence of the Ecological Self: A Comparative Examination of Shingon Esoteric Buddhist Metaphysics and Metanoetics,” International Seminar of Japanese Philosophy, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM), Mexico City (Mexico), Nov. 25–28, 2019.
“Beyond (Negative) Mysticism: Kūkai and Shingon Esoteric Buddhist Philosophy of Religion,” 6th Sino-Japanese Philosophy Forum, Sun Yat-Sen University Guangzhou, Guangzhou (China), Sept 20–23, 2019.
“Kūkai and Shingon Philosophy of Religion: Overcoming Kyoto School Critique of Mysticism”. 5th European Network of Japanese Philosophy: Philosophy of Beauty and Beauty of Philosophy, Nanzan University, Nagoya (Japan), August 29–Sept 1, 2019.
“On Shikoku Pilgrimage: A Philosophical Exploration into the (Sacred) Space,” EASt Mid-Term GENEsYs Conference: Transformation of Youth Identities in East and Southeast Asia: Public Spaces and Intimacy, Université libre de Bruxelles, Brussels (Belgium), May 27–28, 2019.
“Absolute Dialectic: Tanabe Hajime’s Inter-Religious Reconfigurations of Hegelian Dialectic & Re-appropriation of Buddhism and Christianity vis-à-vis Marxism,” the 10th Society for Cultural Interaction in East Asia (SCIEA) Conference, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, May 12–13, 2018.
“Tanabe Hajime and Philosophy of (No-)Self: From the Logic of Species to His Later Philosophy of Religion,” Kyoto University-ULB Joint Research Conference on Self (CAPE), Kyoto University, Japan, November 22, 2018.
“Philosophical Translations on Buddhist Texts: Kūkai as a Case Study,” Asian philosophical Texts Conference, Université libre de Bruxelles, Brussels (Belgium), October 26–27, 2018.
“Shikoku Pilgrimage: Contextualizing its Significance in Contempo Philosophy of Religion through Kūkai, the Kyoto School, and Ian Reader,” ULB EASt Research Workshop on Landscapes, Pilgrimages and the Creation, Representation and Transformation of the “Sacred,” Université libre de Bruxelles, Brussels (Belgium), May 17–18, 2018.
“On Chiasmatic Chorology: Can It Help Us Find the Missing Basho?” A Workshop on 場所, χώρα, Einräumen: Conceptualizing the Place of the Coincidentia Oppositorum, University of Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona (Spain), February 19, 2018.
“From the Interior to the Exterior: Japanese Pilgrimage as a Philosophical Problem and Its (non-)Placement in a Digital World,” An EASt Workshop for Digital Youth in East Asia: Theoretical, Methodological and Technical Issues, Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium, October 12–13, 2017.