"Taming the Wild Fox: The Contradictions of Academic Philosophy"

Within the Chan Buddhist Wild Fox Koan (野狐公案) one can discern a warning against the dangers of theoretical understanding being mistaken for realization. The theme of the 7th Annual Meeting of the ENOJP thus calls on scholars of Japanese philosophy to engage in self-critique by questioning how one’s scholarship stands vis-a-vis the translation of non-theoretical Asian philosophies into Western theoretical and academic structures, methodologies, and institutions. We encourage participants to approach their inquiries with these questions in mind:  

Can we as scholars of Japanese philosophy conduct our work fruitfully in a theoretical idiom without enacting contradictions undermining Asian principles we employ? What is lost or gained when practices exit monasteries and temples and enter universities and lecture halls? Is fidelity to Asian philosophical principles possible where realization was inconceivable without disciplined embodied practices? What are the demands or limits of self-critique while undertaking synthesis of academic and non-academic traditions? Alternatively, are there productive generativities in sustaining the agonisms arising from confrontation with Western academic norms? Should these clashes be sustained and might they pave the way towards a global philosophy? 

Contributions are welcome that examine these questions from Japanese thought spanning its beginnings to its contemporary movements, including but not limited to modern and pre-modern philosophical traditions of religious, political, aesthetic, ethical thought and beyond.