Speech Title

A Japanese Scheme for Talking and Thinking: From Social to Cosmological

Author's Name, Institution and E-mail Address

Takie Sugiyama Lebra, University of Hawai'i - Manoa

Abstract

Of all possible alternatives, I single out two modes of cultural logic which are both assumed to be universal: opposition and contingency. I assume that the Western way of thinking leans more toward opposition logic, whereas the Japanese counterpart tilts more toward contingency logic. My talk addresses how the two modes are differently expressed in various dimensions of human experience, especially in (1) social interaction, and (2) cosmological speculation, with emphasis on the Japanese mode.

Audio Recording

Audio Recording (30 min. 3.5 MB)

The audio recording of Professor Lebra's plenary address at the ATJ Seminar on March 31, 2005, is made available with her permission and through the kind offices of Guven Peter Witteveen, Outreach Coordinator at the Center for Japanese Studies, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor. Mr. Witteveen was kind enough to record the talk and make the recording available to us for distribution to those who were not able to attend.


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