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Yuko Ishihara

Book

Intercultural Phenomenology: Playing with Reality

Yuko Ishihara and Steven A. Tainer · Bloomsbury Academic · 2024 · Bloomsbury Introductions to World Philosophies.

About the book

A practical invitation into phenomenology.

Intercultural Phenomenology explores reality through a cross-cultural dialogue between phenomenology, Japanese philosophy, and Zen Buddhism. It follows thinkers and practices that suspend judgment so objects and situations can show themselves anew.

Why play?

Play names a way of entering reality without freezing it in advance. In the book’s practice-oriented frame, playfulness supports openness, freedom, and the possibility of becoming a co-player with the ways reality manifests.

Key themes

Epoché and suspension of judgment
Nishida and subject-object duality
Gadamer and play in understanding
Bashō, Zen Buddhism, and practice
Phenomenology as lived exercise
Intercultural movement beyond East-West divides

Table of contents

Part I

  1. 1.An Invitation to Play with Reality
  2. 2.Falling into Play
  3. 3.Openness, Playfulness and Freedom
  4. 4.Practicing Playing
  5. 5.A Conversation with Contemplative Traditions

Part II

  1. 6.Practicing Phenomenology - the Historico-Theoretical Context
  2. 7.Practicing Phenomenology - the Personal Side in Practice and “Play”
  3. 8.Japanese Perspectives on “Practice”, “Nature”, and “Play”