Professor

Takao Ito

Profile

Specialized Field

Philosophy/ethics, history of thought

Research theme

Modern German Thought, Social Contract Theory, and Spiritual and Cultural History

Subjects in charge

Introduction to anthropology and ethics

Seminar Theme

Read the Great Books (classics of humanity): Plato's "The Republic"; Descartes' "Discourse on the Method"; Kant's "Grounds of the Metaphysics of Morals"; Schopenhauer's "The World as Will and Representation"; Nietzsche's "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" etc.

Main career, work history, and academic background

Kumamoto City
Kansai Soka High School
Soka University, Faculty Faculty of Letters, Department of Humanities
Soka University Graduate Graduate School of Letters Humanities Major
Visiting Researcher at the Schopenhauer Institute, University of Mainz

Affiliated academic societies and organizations

Japan Philosophical Association, Existential Thought Association, Japan Intellectual History Association, Japan Schopenhauer Society, Japan Leibniz Society, Japan Kant Society, Japan Fichte Society, Japan Hegel Society, Japan Dewey Society, Japan Pestalozzi-Froebel Society, Japan Hermann Hesse Friendship Society, etc.

Main Papers and Publications

"Schopenhauer: The Philosophy of Conspiracy Refusal - War, Law, and the State" (Koyoshobo, 2014)
"Toward a Revival of the Humanities: An Invitation to Human Studies" (co-editor, Keiso Shobo, 2018)
"The Complete Works of Hermann Hesse 4: Under the Wheel, Stories" (co-translated, Rinkawa Shoten, 2005)
"The Complete Works of Hermann Hesse 8: Criticism of the Times" (co-translated, Rinkawa Shoten, 2010)
Goethe-Schiller Letters (vol. 1 and 2) (co-translated, Ushio Publishing, 2016) etc.

others

E-mail : itotakao@soka.ac.jp
趣味 : 読書・クラシック音楽鑑賞・美術館巡り

Specialized Field

philosophy
Intellectual History

Research theme

The history of the influence of Kant's philosophy: 1) Metaphysics (Schopenhauer, etc.), 2) Ethics (Fichte, etc.), 3) Aesthetics (Schiller, etc.), 4) Anthropology (Pestalozzi, etc.)

research content

In his graduation thesis, he dealt with Kant, and in his master's and doctoral thesis he dealt with Schopenhauer, one of Kant's critical successors. The fundamental theme was the theory of freedom, and in his doctoral thesis he attempted to reinterpret modern German philosophy, focusing on social historical issues such as law, the state, power, and war.

Major works

"Schopenhauer's Philosophy of Refusal to Conscription: War, Law, and the State" (Koyoshobo, 2014)
"Toward a Revival of the Humanities: An Invitation to Human Studies" (co-editor, Keiso Shobo, 2018)

Selected Papers

"Fichte's Reception of Pestalozzi" (Proceedings of the Japan Pestalozzi-Froebel Society - Explorations of Human Education - No. 22, 2010)
"Is the denial of will the denial of morality?" (Riso No. 687, Risosha, 2011)
"The Origin of Kant's Theory of World Citizenship" (Contemporary Kant Studies, Vol. 12, 2012)
"Hegel and Schopenhauer" (Hegel Philosophical Studies, No. 18, 2012)
"The Reception of Schopenhauer's Philosophy and its Era" (Existential Thought Collection, Vol. 33, 2018)

Main translation

"The Complete Works of Hermann Hesse 4: Under the Wheel, Stories" (co-translated, Rinkawa Shoten, 2005)
"Hermann Hesse: Essay Collection 8: Criticism of the Times" (co-translated, Rinkawa Shoten, 2010)
Goethe-Schiller Letters (vol. 1 and 2) (co-translated, Ushio Publishing, 2016)

Research and Education Policy

I would like to conduct research into the social history of German humanism, taking into account Kant's critical successors, like Schopenhauer, such as Fichte, Schiller, and Herbart, and to explore the history of the reception of Kant's social philosophy, including among modern Japanese thinkers such as Uchimura Kanzō, Tomonaga Sanjūrō, and Minobe Tatsukichi.
Our educational policy, when reading philosophical texts in their original form, is to encourage careful reading, as if reading the weight of "history" and "society" behind each and every word and listening to the author's breathing.

Message

I want you to value your own awareness of problems and intellectual interests in your research. As the etymology of philosophy suggests, it is an activity of "love of knowledge," so I want you to remember the joy of thoroughly exploring the things you want to know.

others

We would like students to not only read books but also to actively discuss them both in and out of class. In addition, since we place importance on reading original texts in class, we would like students to study not only English but also modern Western languages such as German and French.

Research theme

A study of the ideological history of Soka education