A significant minority opinion exists among continental philosophers and environmental ethicists that the often-neglected field of aesthetics is key to understanding our environmental crisis. In order to rethink the function of aesthetics, we propose the establishment of a working group on environmental aesthetics (WGEA) in 2023, led by Professor Tanehisa Otabe (The Open University of Japan, Emeritus Professor at the University of Tokyo, Japan), Sean McGrath (Memorial University, Canada), and Uwe Voigt (Augsburg University, Germany). Our aim is to compare and contrast the two most central traditional accounts of the aesthetics of nature—one European, the other Asian—to examine to what extent European aesthetics has contributed to environmental crisis and to explore alternative aesthetic traditions that could foster a more sustainable attitude toward development, wilderness, and resource use.
This conference, to be held in Japan from April 23 to 27, 2025, focuses on how traditional Eastern perspectives can respond to modern European thought and offer new theoretical possibilities. It will begin on April 23 with a young researchers’ forum on F. W. J. Schelling (1775–1854), a philosopher whose work may serve as a bridge between modern Western views on nature and landscape and Eastern aesthetics. From April 24–27, the conference will feature three keynote lectures and interdisciplinary discussions on classical Western theories of environmental aesthetics, ecological, ethical, and religious issues, and key concepts and artistic forms in Eastern aesthetics. These discussions will be examined from the perspectives of philosophy, ethics, sociology, and literature, covering themes from pre-modern times to the digital age and the Anthropocene. A closed-door meeting for WGEA members is scheduled for April 28.
The detailed conference schedule is available at the link below.
[View Program]
The conference will be open to the public (in-person). If you would like to attend, please register using the Google Form below. Thank you for your cooperation.
https://docs.google.com/forms/
The organizers of this conference are Sakura Yahata (Hitotsubashi University), Yi Ding (Hokkaido University) and Tanehisa Otabe (The Open University of Japan; Emeritus Professor, The University of Tokyo),
If you have any questions, please contact Yi Ding: tingtingeats2[at]gmail.com
Co-organized by:
Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology, The University of Tokyo
The Ushioda Initiative of Arts, East Asian Academy for New Liberal Arts (EAA), The University of Tokyo
Mishima Kaiun Memorial Foundation