MAKOTO AS THE INITIAL PRINCIPLE OF THE ETHICAL AND AESTHETIC BELIEFS OF THE JAPANESE

Author(s):  
M. P. Gerasimova ◽  

Makoto (まこと, lit.: truth, genuineness, reality, “realness”) is an element of the conceptual apparatus of the traditional worldview of the Japanese. In Japan, it is generally accepted that makoto is a philosophical and aesthetic concept that underlies Japanese spirituality, involving among other principles understanding of the order and laws of the truly existing Universum (shinrabansho̅; 森羅万象) and the universal interconnectedness of things (bambutsu ittai; 万物一体), the desire to understand the true essence of everything that person meets in life, and, unlike other spiritual values, is purely Shinto in origin. After getting acquainted with the Chinese hieroglyphic writing three Chinese characters were borrowed for the word makoto. Each of these characters means truthfulness, genuineness, but has its own distinctive nuances: 真 means truth, authenticity, truthfulness, 実 signifies truth, reality, essence, content, and 誠 again means truthfulness, sincerity, and truth. Makoto (“true words”) and makoto (“true deeds”) imply the highest degree of sincerity of words and honesty, correctness of thoughts, actions, and deeds. The relationship “true words — true deeds” can be seen as one of the driving factors of moral obligation, prompting everyone in their field, as well as in relations between people, to strive to be real. This desire contributed to the formation of a heightened sense of duty and responsibility among the Japanese, which became a hallmark of their character. However, makoto has not only ethical connotation, but aesthetic one as well, and can be considered as the basis on which were formed the concept of mono no aware (もののあ われ、 物の哀れ) and the aesthetic ideal of the same name, that became the first link in the chain of japanese perceptions of beauty. Each link in this chain is an expression of a new facet of makoto, which was revealed as a result of certain elements of the worldview that came to the fore in the historical era.

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 189-202

The article advances a hypothesis about the composition of Michel de Montaigne’s Essays. Specialists in the intellectual history of the Renaissance have long considered the relationship among Montaigne’s thematically heterogeneous thoughts, which unfold unpredictably and often seen to contradict each other. The waywardness of those reflections over the years was a way for Montaigne to construct a self-portrait. Spontaneity of thought is the essence of the person depicted and an experimental literary technique that was unprecedented in its time and has still not been surpassed. Montaigne often writes about freedom of reflection and regards it as an extremely important topic. There have been many attempts to interpret the haphazardness of the Essays as the guiding principle in their composition. According to one such interpretation, the spontaneous digressions and readiness to take up very different philosophical notions is a form of of varietas and distinguo, which Montaigne understood in the context of Renaissance philosophy. Another interpretation argues that the Essays employ the rhetorical techniques of Renaissance legal commentary. A third opinion regards the Essays as an example of sprezzatura, a calculated negligence that calls attention to the aesthetic character of Montaigne’s writing. The author of the article argues for a different interpretation that is based on the concept of idleness to which Montaigne assigned great significance. He had a keen appreciation of the role of otium in the culture of ancient Rome and regarded leisure as an inner spiritual quest for self-knowledge. According to Montaigne, idleness permits self-directedness, and it is an ideal form in which to practice the freedom of thought that brings about consistency in writing, living and reality, in all of which Montaigne finds one general property - complete inconstancy. Socratic self-knowledge, a skepticism derived from Pyrrho of Elis and Sextus Empiricus, and a rejection of the conventions of traditional rhetoric that was similar to Seneca’s critique of it were all brought to bear on the concept of idleness and made Montaigne’s intellectual and literary experimentation in the Essays possible.


Recent decades have seen a major expansion in our understanding of how early Greek lyric functioned in its social, political, and ritual contexts. The fundamental role song played in the day-to-day lives of communities, groups, and individuals has been the object of intense study. This volume places its focus elsewhere, and attempts to illuminate poetic effects that cannot be captured in functional terms. Employing a range of interpretative methods, it explores the idea of lyric performances as textual events. Several chapters investigate the pragmatic relationship between real performance contexts and imaginative settings. Others consider how lyric poems position themselves in relation to earlier texts and textual traditions, or discuss the distinctive encounters lyric poems create between listeners, authors, and performers. In addition to studies that analyse individual lyric texts and lyric authors (Sappho, Alcaeus, Pindar), the volume includes treatments of the relationship between lyric and the Homeric Hymns. Building on the renewed concern with the aesthetic in the study of Greek lyric and beyond, Textual Events re-examines the relationship between the poems’ formal features and their historical contexts. Lyric poems are a type of sociopolitical discourse, but they are also objects of attention in themselves. They enable reflection on social and ritual practices as much as they are embedded within them. As well as enacting cultural norms, lyric challenges listeners to think about and experience the world afresh.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 355-371
Author(s):  
Michael Ewans

Abstract This article explores the opera Die Vögel (1920) by Walter Braunfels (1882–1954), and its reception of Aristophanes' Birds. The Introduction is substantial, as the work is little known. It is followed by an Overview of each of the two Acts, which discusses in Act I the relationship to Aristophanes (Braunfels discarded the second half of the original Greek comedy and struck out on a completely new path). Then the article analyses the development during Act II of insight into die klingende Ferne (‘the music of far away') by Hopeful, who is the principal human character in Braunfels' adaptation. It is shown that Hopeful's quest for spiritual values almost beyond human understanding is the central theme of the opera; the superiority of the life of birds, which Aristophanes treats humorously in the two parabaseis, is taken seriously in Braunfels' mystical second Act.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-51
Author(s):  
Jeong-A Jo

This study aims to examine the common features and differences in how the Chinese-character classifier ‘ ben 本’ is used in Chinese, Korean, and Japanese, and will explore the factors that have affected the categorization processes and patterns of the classifier ‘ ben 本.’ Consideration of the differences in the patterns of usage and categorization of the same Chinese classifier in different languages enables us to look into the perception of the world and the socio cultural differences inherent in each language, the differences in the perception of Chinese characters, and the relationship between classifiers.


2021 ◽  
pp. 003802612110063
Author(s):  
Steven Threadgold ◽  
David Farrugia ◽  
Julia Coffey

This article contributes to recent debates about the relationship between affective labour and class by exploring the classed distinctions enacted through affective labour in the urban night-time economy. Bringing theories of affective labour into a dialogue with Bourdieusian feminist analysis, the article explores the affective and symbolic dynamics of hospitality labour in a gentrified inner-urban neighbourhood of Melbourne, Australia. It shows how the practice of hospitality labour enacts classed distinctions and tensions emerging from the gentrification of inner-urban areas, and how the aesthetic and symbolic dimensions of class contribute to the valorisation of affect in hospitality venues. The valorisation of affect are processes in which the value attributed to an atmosphere or consumption experience is based on the forms of distinction practised within the venue, enacted in aesthetics, tastes and modes of embodiment. The article also shows how practices of class distinction – both ‘punching up’ and ‘managing down’ – are connected to the gendered politics of service work in the way that workers manage the threat of violence or sexual harassment in venues. In general, the article shows how the classed dynamics of gentrification are enacted in affective economies, and therefore how Bourdieusian analysis of class can be usefully deployed in theoretical debates about affective labour.


2021 ◽  
pp. 105971232199468
Author(s):  
Jeannette Pols

The response asks about the relationship between artist and audience in the RAAAF artworks. Is the artist an Autonomous Innovator who breaches the ties with the past and the environment? Or is the aesthetic practice located in the creation of relationships around these objects, hence expanding the artwork by using know-how, experiences and enthusiasm of the audience/users?


2021 ◽  
pp. 109634802110200
Author(s):  
Yi-Ju Lee ◽  
I-Ying Tsai ◽  
Te-Yi Chang

This study investigated the relationship among tourists’ perceived sustainability, aesthetic experience, and behavioral intention toward reused heritage buildings by employing stimulus–organism–response theory. There were 354 valid questionnaires collected from the Sputnik Lab in Tainan, Taiwan. A positive correlation was found between tourists’ perception of sustainability and aesthetic experience. When tourists perceived higher aesthetic experience, they also had stronger behavioral intention. Structural equation modeling analysis verified that the aesthetic experience of tourists had mediating effects between perceived sustainability and behavioral intention in the reused heritage space. The reuse of space should be attached significantly to the aesthetic display of space and service so as to promote such scenic spots and increase tourists’ intention to revisit through word of mouth.


1996 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 171-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Myron Weiner

This paper examines the debate as to whether migration is a basic human right or if the claims of outsiders are superseded by the principle of national sovereignty – the moral obligation of states to do the best for their own citizens. In evaluating migration and refugees it focuses on issues of open borders, migration selectivity, the capacity of sovereign states to control entry, the claims of refugees, the relationship between sovereignty and justifiable intervention, and the role of public opinion and morals throughout migration policies.


1997 ◽  
Vol 85 (4) ◽  
pp. 140-145
Author(s):  
David Bromwich

2021 ◽  
pp. 251385022098177
Author(s):  
Jeong-A Jo

This study aims to examine the common features and differences in how the Chinese-character classifier ‘ ben 本’ is used in Chinese, Korean, and Japanese, and will explore the factors that have affected the categorization processes and patterns of the classifier ‘ ben 本.’ Consideration of the differences in the patterns of usage and categorization of the same Chinese classifier in different languages enables us to look into the perception of the world and the socio cultural differences inherent in each language, the differences in the perception of Chinese characters, and the relationship between classifiers.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document