Ethics Embodied: Rethinking Selfhood through Continental, Japanese, and Feminist Philosophies

by Erin McCarthy

While the body has been largely neglected in much of traditional Western philosophy, there is a rich tradition of Japanese philosophy in which this is not the case. Ethics Embodied explains how Japanese philosophy includes the body as an integral part of selfhood and ethics and shows how it provides an alternative and challenge to the traditional Western philosophical view of self and ethics. Through a comparative feminist approach, the book articulates the striking similarities that exist between certain strands of Japanese philosophy and feminist philosophy concerning selfhood, ethics and the body. Despite the similarities, McCarthy argues that there are significant differences between these philosophies and that each reveals important limitations of the other. Thus, the book urges a view of ethical embodied selfhood that goes beyond where each of these views leaves us when considered in isolation.

With keen analysis and constructive comparison, this book will be accessible for students and scholars familiar with the Western philosophical tradition, while still adding a more global perspective.

Genres: Philosophy, Japan, Nonfiction

134 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 2010

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Reviews

[Kamakana · Rating 5 out of 5]

020518: looks like expanded PhD thesis. subtitle alone assures i will read it as it immediately refers to several kinds of thought i love... review to come...

first review: fun. i discover i am not alone seeing fruitful comparative philosophy, reading other than 'western' tradition, reading around intersection of 'continental' (which means to me phenomenology, postmodernism), of which i have read much, and feminist philosophy (which means mostly irigaray), always would like to read more, and Japanese philosophy (which means mostly Kyoto school), that i have after my list to get to, after Bergson...

interesting, this is a short book, this could be longer- but that is just me. there is a lot of Buddhism, Buddhist philosophy, a not a very extensive description of phenomenology, mostly application and comparison or Husserl, Heidegger, and though i keep waiting for it (title does say 'embodied...), no merleau-ponty, and no analytic (title does not offer it), the signal exploration, difference, is mostly about obsessive 'dualism' in western thought, how this train of thought only recently derails, how here is Buddhism, there is the Kyoto school, there is Wasuji, which offers new way out of dead-end, but i have read so much eastern thought this does not surprise me...

in fact, though i give this a five, this rating is more for putative readers who do not much have much practice in comparison of thought. there are of course, myriad problems borne of dualism, usually weighted in virtuality of male vs female, in that the male half is dominant, positive, active, all female being submissive, neutral, passive etc- and here is when it is clear that the three noted in title are not simply one against one but one and one and one, not necessarily vs, but resource. we are seeing patriarchal originary Japanese thought that is here revealed, and here the applicability of 'ningen', of relationship, reality, being more useful than individuality, and then this is contrasted to the being as understood by say husserl and heidegger which strives to connection rather than starting with assumed shared ground...

and then there is that very ground, foundations, assumed to validate western thought, rather than the abyss over which, as species, society, self, recognize contradiction as 'real' as confirmation... these are all good arguments, though not new to me, and this was a fun read...


if you want more: Wisdom Beyond Words: The Buddhist Vision of Ultimate Reality
Why Buddhism is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment
more technical:
The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way: Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā
more:
Innovative Buddhist Women: Swimming Against the Stream
Women in the Footsteps of the Buddha: Struggle for Liberation in the Therigatha
Gender Equality in Buddhism
Why Buddhism is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment
Buddhism: A Philosophical Approach
What the Buddha Thought
Nietzsche and Buddhist Philosophy
Buddhist Philosophy: A Historical Analysis
Buddhism as Philosophy: An Introduction
Ethics Embodied: Rethinking Selfhood Through Continental, Japanese, and Feminist Philosophies
After Buddhism: Rethinking the Dharma for a Secular Age
What the Buddha Thought
Why Buddhism is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment
Buddhist Philosophy: Essential Readings
Buddhism as Philosophy: An Introduction
Self, No Self?: Perspectives from Analytical, Phenomenological, and Indian Traditions
After Buddhism: Rethinking the Dharma for a Secular Age
Philosophers of Nothingness: An Essay on the Kyoto School
The Kyoto School
Nishida And Western Philosophy
Buddhism: A Philosophical Approach
What the Buddha Thought
Wisdom Beyond Words: The Buddhist Vision of Ultimate Reality
Buddhism as Philosophy: An Introduction
An Introduction to Buddhist Philosophy
Why I Am Not a Buddhist
Why I Am a Buddhist: No-Nonsense Buddhism with Red Meat and Whiskey
Indian Buddhist Philosophy: Metaphysics as Ethics

[Metaspinster]

Ha! So, no wonder I kept thinking that McCarthy's romances had pleasingly feminist sensibilities. She's a feminist philosophy professor! And yet! Her fiction isn't at all pedantic...

pe·danti·cal·ly adv.
Synonyms: pedantic, academic, bookish, donnish, scholastic
These adjectives mean marked by a narrow, often tiresome focus on or display of learning and especially its trivial aspects: a pedantic writing style; an academic insistence on precision; a bookish vocabulary; donnish refinement of speech; scholastic and excessively subtle reasoning.

So yeah, every time I use or read the word "pedantic," I always muse about how it seems almost impossible to say it without coming off as, well, pedantic. Heh.

[Matthew Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic essay, as described. Really had me think about the mind/body discussion that relates to feminist theory. Really would recommend to people that enjoy philosophy topics.