The philosophical structure of the evaluation of aisthesis: comparative aesthetics between Europe and Japan

Since the late twentieth century Japanese society has valued the concept of kansei [感性] (sensibility /aisthesis), which is a term originally imported from modern European philosophy. Were there any roots in traditional Japanese thought to encourage this positive evaluation? Or is it just a foreign concept which prevailed via osmosis? This PhD dissertation compares the philosophical structure of the evaluation of sensory perception between European and Japanese aesthetics. Aesthetics is generally understood through philosophy of art or beauty but for a thorough comparison of aesthetics a reconsideration of the meaning of “the aesthetic” is necessary because a concept of “art” or “beauty” is not universally interchangeable. In order to explore philosophical backgrounds behind this non-interchangeability, it is necessary to examine the process in which the idea of “the aesthetic” was nurtured and finally founded by Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten as a science of sensory cognition (scientia cognitionis sensitivae). A genealogical examination reveals that the development of the concept of “the aesthetic” is deeply rooted in the traditional philosophical predilection for the concept of ratio, especially the tradition of rationalism. An analysis of Descartes’ and Leibniz’s concepts of “clear-confused perception” identifies the place of Baumgarten’s aesthetics within the rationalistic dilemma of evaluating moral and art-related thinking. Baumgarten provided a significant response to this dilemma by developing an idea of aesthetic experience which would encompass both ethical and epistemic value in the realm of sensory perception. Despite Kant’s explicit criticism of rationalist epistemological aesthetics, Baumgarten’s and Kant’s thought show some affinities in terms of their delineation of the relationship between aesthetic sensibility and reason. Comparative examination contrasts this philosophical schema with Japanese philosophical discourses derived from Shinto, Confucian and Buddhist traditions. A positive evaluation of sensory experience is therein observable but its metaphysical premise is different from the way in which European aesthetics evaluated the sensory. An investigation of the concepts of “the principle” (ri/kotowari [理]) and “the way” (dō/ michi [道]) in some Japanese thought clarifies how truth was delineated without concepts of ratio and how it influenced the evaluation of sensory perception. The subject who engages in experience was valued by means of an idea of inter-subjectivity. An object of perception was also understood with its relation to the surroundings. Accordingly sensory perception was valued as it would lead to an awareness of the essential principle of human beings and the world in which a dichotomy between them disappears. Based on the clarification of the commonalities and differences between Europe and Japan, this thesis ultimately suggests the possibility of a comprehensive and flexible interpretation of the value of sensory experience from a transcultural perspective.