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From the closing address by Yutaka Tanaka (President of the Japan Society for Process Studies,Professor and Chair of the Graduate School of Philosophy,Sophia University)
It is with great pleasure that I give a report of this international conference today as the chair of the organizing committee in the closing session of Eco-Sophia Symposium 2011.
I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Sophia University for her support for this international conference as a project of her 100th anniversary and as a project of Sophia Symposium as well. I am very glad to invite many scholars to this conference from India, China, Korea, Russia, Poland, Germany, Portugal, U.S.A. Thank you so much for all of you. You have kindly come here in spite of the difficult situation after the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11. Your participation in this conference is very encouraging. I also feel much gratitude to the Japan Society for Process Studies and the International Process Network.
This conference was held as the 33rd annual conference of JSPS as well as the 8th International Whitehead Conference. The Japan Society for Process Studies was founded 34 years ago, and published the Works of Whitehead in 15 volumes in Japanese translation. The second international Whitehead conference was held in 1984 at Nanzan University in Japan. At that conference Japanese philosophers including me had an opportunity of meeting eminent process thinkers including Charles Hartshorne, Johna Cobb, and Van der Vecken, The International Process Network (or IPN)was founded on 2001 at Claremont. The purpose of this network is, as stated in its bylaws, “to support, generate and disseminate an international discourse on the meaning and implications of process thought across academic disciplines and conflicting truth-claims, and in relation to the entire community of life and the cosmos.” IPN has sponsored International Whitehead Conferences in Beijing (4th 2002), Seoul (5th 2004), Salzburg (6th 2006), Bangalore (7th 2009), and Tokyo (8th 2011).
The central theme of the Eco-Sophia Symposium 2011 is Sapientia Convivendi, i.e. the Wisdom of living together, the Care for Others, with Others. We have set four topics to be discussed in this conference.
1 Philosophical Studies of Being for Others, with Others / Process-relational Philosophy of Becoming and Creativity / Theology of Ecology / etc.
2 Ecology, Economy, and the Problems of Global Ethics for the Future of Civilization Environmental Ethics and Bio-Medical-Ethics / Ecological Civilization in the Ecozoic Era / Sustainable Management / System Theory / etc.
3 Creativity and Harmony in Cultural Interaction and Inter-religious Dialogue Biblical Tradition and Ecology / Ecology in Natural Religion / Hinduism, Buddhism, and Ecology / Ecology and Yi-Ching Studies / Ecology in Chinese Korean and Japanese traditons of Philosophical thoughts
4 The Relevance of Whitehead's Philosophy of Organism to the 21st Century Re-reading of Science and the Modern World, Process and Reality, the Adventure of Ideas, and the Aims of Education / etc for the coming ecolocical civilization.
There are three plenary sessions and 19 parallel sessions. I would like to report mainly the plenary sessions which I have modulated as a co-chair. 10 distinguished invited scholars gave us stimulating lectures and discussions as panelists in the plenary sessions.
At the opening session Prof. Takeda Ryusei , who is one of Hibakusha( sufferers from Nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima) gave us a lecture on the birth, sickness, aging and death in the nuclear age.
The key word of the first symposium on Monday is the “ecozoic age” which has been coined by Thomas Berry (1914-2009), a catholic priest and eco-theologian. “Eco” means “house or community”, and “zoics” means “life and spirituality” which is more important than “logic”. Thus “ecozoics” has become more fundamental than “ecology”. NOBUHARA Tokiyuki has discussed the philosophico-theological problem of two ultimates: one is the metaphysical ultimate such as “Creativity” in Whitehead or “Emptiness (Sunyata)” in Mahayana Buddhisim, and the other is the religious ultimate such as God in Christianity or “Amida Buddha” in Pure Land Buddhism. NOBUHARA’s paper contains the proposal of an “ecozoics of the deity” from the standpoint of his unique theology of loyalty. Jai-Don LEE also discussed Thomas Berry’s eco-theology. Herman GREEN, Director of the Center for Ecozoic Studies has made a programmatic address or a grand program for the future study of ecozoics. Later, he himself l explained the necessity of ecozzzoics
At the second symposium on Monday we had three panelists, ENDO Hiroshi, Kurian KACHAPPILLY, and Steve ODIN . ENDO Hiroshi discussed Whitehead’s theory of the sense of peace asking what occurs on the edge of consciousness. “Peace” is the most important element among the qualities characterizing a civilized society in Whitehead’s Adventures of Ideas. He will show how the other four qualities, i.e. Truth, Beauty, Adventure, and Art, fuse into the sense of Peace. Kurian KACHAPPILLY proposed an Indian Model based on his conceptualization of man-nature relationship which he calls “holocoenotic”. His paper, citing classical texts of Indian spirituality, aims at leading us out of the moral impasse created by the separation of humanity and nature. Steve ODIN discussed Whitehead’s perspectivism as a basis for environmental ethics. As he is well-versed in Mahayana Buddhism as well as in process metaphysics, Odin also analyses the Zen/Kegon teaching of interfusion between part and whole and its expression in Japanese art and literature in terms of Whiteheadian process philosophy.
We have also set the Special Panel: The Future of Civilization -- Japan and the World after 3/11 as the third plenary session held in Wednesday. The third symposium on Wednesday invites three scholars, MIYAMOTO Hisao, YAMAWAKI Naoshi, and YAMAMOTO Ryoichi. MIYAMOTO Hisao is a Catholic priest of Dominican Order, and a renowned theologian for his unique biblical hermeneutics, i.e. Hayathology based on the texts of Exodus. He will discuss environmental problems today including Minamata and Fukushima from the standpoint of hayathology. YAMAWAKI Naoshi is a philosopher of politics, and renowned for his idea of “public philosophy”. He will criticize the so-called “atomic energy village” which consists of TEPCO, the Japanese Government including The Nuclear Safety Office, and many uncritical self-serving scholars. He will also lay special emphasis on the lack of the public philosophy among them. YAMAMOTO Ryoichi is a renowned scientist for his contribution to eco-technology. He has proposed the Intergovernmental Ethics Panel for ecological civilization.
