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Tragic Beauty in Whitehead and Japanese Aesthetics

Steve Odin

The present volume endeavors to make a contribution to contemporary Whitehead studies by clarifying his axiological process metaphysics, including his theory of values, concept of aesthetic experience, and doctrine of beauty, along with his philosophy of art, literature and poetry. Moreover, it establishes an east-west dialogue focusing on how Alfred North Whitehead’s process aesthetics can be clarified by the traditional Japanese Buddhist sense of evanescent beauty. As this east-west dialogue unfolds it is shown that there are many striking points of convergence between Whitehead’s process aesthetics and the traditional Japanese sense of beauty. However, the work especially focuses on two of Whitehead’s aesthetic categories, including the penumbral beauty of darkness and the tragic beauty of perishability, while further demonstrating parallels with the two Japanese aesthetic categories of yûgen and aware. It is clarified how both Whitehead and the Japanese tradition have articulated a poetics of evanescence that celebrates the transience of aesthetic experience and the ephemerality of beauty. Finally it is argued that both Whitehead and Japanese tradition develop an aesthetics of beauty as perishability culminating in a religio-aesthetic vision of tragic beauty and its reconciliation in the supreme ecstasy of peace or nirvana.
  • Details
  • Details
  • Author
  • Author
  • TOC
  • TOC
  • Reviews
  • Reviews
Lexington Books
Pages: 352 • Trim: 6¼ x 9⅜
978-1-4985-1477-4 • Hardback • May 2016 • $150.00 • (£115.00)
978-1-4985-1479-8 • Paperback • September 2018 • $60.99 • (£47.00)
978-1-4985-1478-1 • eBook • May 2016 • $57.50 • (£44.00)
Series: Contemporary Whitehead Studies
Subjects: Philosophy / Aesthetics, Philosophy / Comparative Philosophy
Steve Odin teaches Japanese and East-West comparative philosophy at the University of Hawaii, where he has taught for more than thirty years.
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Abbreviations
About the Cover
I. Primacy of Aesthetics
1. Primacy of Aesthetics in Japanese Culture
2. Whitehead’s Aesthetics: Early Works
3. Whitehead’s Aesthetics: Process and Reality
4. Whitehead’s Aesthetics: Later Works
5. Whitehead’s Retrieval of Beauty
6. The Problem of Aestheticism
(i) Whitehead’s Aestheticism
(ii) Japanese Aestheticism
II. Beauty as Aesthetic Quality
7. Whitehead’s Metaphysics of Aesthetic Quality
8. Aesthetic Quality in East-West Perspective
(i) S. C. Pepper, (ii) F.S.C Northrop, (iii) R. M. Pirsig, (iv) H. N. Wieman, (v) S. K. Langer
9. Whitehead’s Doctrine of Aesthetic Qualities as Eternal Objects
10. Beauty as Synaesthesia in Whitehead, Hartshorne & Japanese Aesthetics
III. A Whiteheadian Perspective on Yūgen & Aware in Japanese Aesthetics
A. Penumbral Beauty
11. Penumbral Beauty of Darkness in Whitehead’s Process Aesthetics
12. Yūgen as the Beauty of Darkness in Japanese Aesthetics
13. A Whiteheadian Perspective on Yūgen in Japanese Aesthetics
B. Tragic Beauty
14. Time as Discontinuous Continuity in Whitehead, Dōgen & Nishida
15. Tragic Beauty in Whitehead's Process Aesthetics
16. Aware in Japanese Aesthetics
17. A Whiteheadian Perspective on Aware in Japanese Aesthetics
18. Tragic Beauty and Peace in Whitehead & Japanese Aesthetics
Endnotes
Bibliography
Glossary
Tragic Beauty in Whitehead and Japanese Aesthetics embodies the best in comparative philosophy. Both Whitehead and various Japanese thinkers (Dogen, Nishida, etc.) are mutually illuminated in this clear and insightful study. Further, readers who are interested in the crucial issue of tragic beauty will be edified by the author’s treatment of this topic even if they are not experts in Whitehead or Japanese thought. Highly recommended!
— Daniel A. Dombrowski, Seattle University


[Tragic Beauty in Whitehead and Japanese Aesthetics] will be intriguing and stimulating not only to those scholars who engage in Whitehead studies but also to those who are concerned with the development of an East-West dialogue on aesthetics and aesthetic education.
— Journal of Aesthetic Education


Tragic Beauty in Whitehead and Japanese Aesthetics embodies the best in comparative philosophy. Both Whitehead and various Japanese thinkers (Dogen, Nishida, etc.) are mutually illuminated in this clear and insightful study. Further, readers who are interested in the crucial issue of tragic beauty will be edified by the author’s treatment of this topic even if they are not experts in Whitehead or Japanese thought. Highly recommended!
— Daniel A. Dombrowski, Seattle University


Tragic Beauty in Whitehead and Japanese Aesthetics

Cover Image
Hardback
Paperback
eBook
Summary
Summary
  • The present volume endeavors to make a contribution to contemporary Whitehead studies by clarifying his axiological process metaphysics, including his theory of values, concept of aesthetic experience, and doctrine of beauty, along with his philosophy of art, literature and poetry. Moreover, it establishes an east-west dialogue focusing on how Alfred North Whitehead’s process aesthetics can be clarified by the traditional Japanese Buddhist sense of evanescent beauty. As this east-west dialogue unfolds it is shown that there are many striking points of convergence between Whitehead’s process aesthetics and the traditional Japanese sense of beauty. However, the work especially focuses on two of Whitehead’s aesthetic categories, including the penumbral beauty of darkness and the tragic beauty of perishability, while further demonstrating parallels with the two Japanese aesthetic categories of yûgen and aware. It is clarified how both Whitehead and the Japanese tradition have articulated a poetics of evanescence that celebrates the transience of aesthetic experience and the ephemerality of beauty. Finally it is argued that both Whitehead and Japanese tradition develop an aesthetics of beauty as perishability culminating in a religio-aesthetic vision of tragic beauty and its reconciliation in the supreme ecstasy of peace or nirvana.
Details
Details
  • Lexington Books
    Pages: 352 • Trim: 6¼ x 9⅜
    978-1-4985-1477-4 • Hardback • May 2016 • $150.00 • (£115.00)
    978-1-4985-1479-8 • Paperback • September 2018 • $60.99 • (£47.00)
    978-1-4985-1478-1 • eBook • May 2016 • $57.50 • (£44.00)
    Series: Contemporary Whitehead Studies
    Subjects: Philosophy / Aesthetics, Philosophy / Comparative Philosophy
Author
Author
  • Steve Odin teaches Japanese and East-West comparative philosophy at the University of Hawaii, where he has taught for more than thirty years.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
  • Acknowledgments
    Introduction
    Abbreviations
    About the Cover
    I. Primacy of Aesthetics
    1. Primacy of Aesthetics in Japanese Culture
    2. Whitehead’s Aesthetics: Early Works
    3. Whitehead’s Aesthetics: Process and Reality
    4. Whitehead’s Aesthetics: Later Works
    5. Whitehead’s Retrieval of Beauty
    6. The Problem of Aestheticism
    (i) Whitehead’s Aestheticism
    (ii) Japanese Aestheticism
    II. Beauty as Aesthetic Quality
    7. Whitehead’s Metaphysics of Aesthetic Quality
    8. Aesthetic Quality in East-West Perspective
    (i) S. C. Pepper, (ii) F.S.C Northrop, (iii) R. M. Pirsig, (iv) H. N. Wieman, (v) S. K. Langer
    9. Whitehead’s Doctrine of Aesthetic Qualities as Eternal Objects
    10. Beauty as Synaesthesia in Whitehead, Hartshorne & Japanese Aesthetics
    III. A Whiteheadian Perspective on Yūgen & Aware in Japanese Aesthetics
    A. Penumbral Beauty
    11. Penumbral Beauty of Darkness in Whitehead’s Process Aesthetics
    12. Yūgen as the Beauty of Darkness in Japanese Aesthetics
    13. A Whiteheadian Perspective on Yūgen in Japanese Aesthetics
    B. Tragic Beauty
    14. Time as Discontinuous Continuity in Whitehead, Dōgen & Nishida
    15. Tragic Beauty in Whitehead's Process Aesthetics
    16. Aware in Japanese Aesthetics
    17. A Whiteheadian Perspective on Aware in Japanese Aesthetics
    18. Tragic Beauty and Peace in Whitehead & Japanese Aesthetics
    Endnotes
    Bibliography
    Glossary
Reviews
Reviews
  • Tragic Beauty in Whitehead and Japanese Aesthetics embodies the best in comparative philosophy. Both Whitehead and various Japanese thinkers (Dogen, Nishida, etc.) are mutually illuminated in this clear and insightful study. Further, readers who are interested in the crucial issue of tragic beauty will be edified by the author’s treatment of this topic even if they are not experts in Whitehead or Japanese thought. Highly recommended!
    — Daniel A. Dombrowski, Seattle University


    [Tragic Beauty in Whitehead and Japanese Aesthetics] will be intriguing and stimulating not only to those scholars who engage in Whitehead studies but also to those who are concerned with the development of an East-West dialogue on aesthetics and aesthetic education.
    — Journal of Aesthetic Education


    Tragic Beauty in Whitehead and Japanese Aesthetics embodies the best in comparative philosophy. Both Whitehead and various Japanese thinkers (Dogen, Nishida, etc.) are mutually illuminated in this clear and insightful study. Further, readers who are interested in the crucial issue of tragic beauty will be edified by the author’s treatment of this topic even if they are not experts in Whitehead or Japanese thought. Highly recommended!
    — Daniel A. Dombrowski, Seattle University


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