Landscape and Travelling East and West: A Philosophical Journey - by Hans-Georg Moeller & Andrew Whitehead (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Philosophical reflections on journeys and crossings, homes and habitats, have appeared in all major East Asian and Western philosophies. Landscape and travelling first emerged as a key issue in ancient Chinese philosophy, quickly becoming a core concern of Daoism and Confucianism. Yet despite the eminence of such reflections, Landscape and Travelling East and West: A Philosophical Journey is the first academic study to explore these philosophical themes in detail.

Individual case studies from esteemed experts consider how philosophical thought about places and journeys have inspired and shaped major intellectual and cultural traditions; how such notions concretely manifested themselves in Chinese art, particularly in the genres of landscape painting and garden architecture. The studies present a philosophical dialogue between Confucianism and Daoism on issues of social space and belonging and include discussion on travel and landscape in Buddhism as well as Japanese and Tibetan contexts.

Approaching the topic from an inter-cultural perspectives, particularly East Asian philosophies, and using these to enrich contemporary reflections on space, the environment, and traversing, this unique collection adds an important voice to present philosophical, political, and cultural discourses.

Review Quotes

Although more people in the world are travelling farther and more often than ever before-not least philosophers to conferences-this activity has been neglected as a topic for philosophical reflection. And although landscape has long been such a topic in East-Asian traditions, it too has been largely ignored in Western philosophy. This collection of essays by a range of scholars, from eminent experts to promising younger thinkers, goes a long way toward filling in the gaps in admirable fashion.

An inspiring collection of diverse and fascinating journeys through time, space and cultures, this book is an ideal companion for wondering and wandering philosophers, East-West comparativists and intellectual flaneurs of any kind."

This well-crafted unusual collection of essays devoted to philosophical reflections on landscape and travel, real and imaginary, ranges comparatively across East and West, from Laozi and Zhuangzi, Confucius and Mencius, Buddhist sutras, and Basho to Plato, Descartes, Hegel, Kant, Heidegger, and Caspar David Friedrich, from physical location and movement in time and space to concepts of 'home' and sense of community, from journey as metaphor for spiritual quest to issues of migration, exile, personal and national identity, and relations between the human and the natural environments. The essays are marked by much original thought, sophisticated analysis, and the extensive and insightful use of primary sources, and their collective effect expands our perspectives and sharpens the focus we bring to bear on cultural affinities that have long been obscured by uninformed attention to superficial differences. As such, this volume represents cross-cultural and inter-disciplinary studies at their best.

About the Author

Hans-Georg Moeller is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Philosophy at University College Cork, Ireland.

Andrew K. Whitehead is the Manager of the Irish Institute of Japanese Studies in the Department of Philosophy at University College Cork, the Executive Director of the Académie du Midi Institute of Philosophy, and has recently been appointed Assistant Professor of Philosophy in the Department of History and Philosophy at Kennesaw State University, USA.