Tadashi Ogawa brings together the ancient East Asian idea of ki (気) and standpoints of European philosophy. Wind, atmosphere and breathing are formless, invisible and impermanent – yet also constantly move between things, animating them in their interactions with our subjectivities. In this volume, these elements are brought back from their forgotten status in European philosophy and placed as central elements in a new, challenging philosophical reflection, weaving together aspects from both East and West.
Ogawa Tadashi (1945) is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy in Kyoto University’s School of Human and Environmental Studies. An expert of phenomenology and German philosophy, his work represents an original synthesis of Western philosophy and East Asian notions of body and ki. His other research interests include structuralism (from a phenomenological strandpoint), sociology, and the political thought of Machiavelli.