Intercultural Philosophy Research Group

About us

MUSHIN’EN 無心円

Declaration of intent

We are convinced that, today, the dimension of philosophy can only be global, crossed by plurality and differences. Our aim is doing philosophy together: an all-round and “circling” philosophy, where the “circle” does not have a center. Doing philosophy “together” necessarily implies a polylogic and transformative practice: it comes to life and springs out from transitions, dialogues and translations, and takes shape in a multiplicity of languages, cultures, disciplines, and gestures. It is a philosophy, therefore, that is made of intertwined, thin threads whose weft does not have a straight and a reverse, or a head and an end. It is like a web that can be taken from any side and leads to any place, and touching a single edge of this web means at the same time touching it all and being touched by it – as long as one accepts to be transformed at each new encounter.

For us, philosophy does not coincide with a discipline that is crystallized in a logocentrism, claiming a uniquely European origin; at the same time, it does not coincide with either an uncritical passion for exoticism and otherness, or with an all-encompassing synthesis. Thus, it is not a philosophy that centralizes, but a philosophy that decentralizes; it is not encompassing but global; not essentialistic, but essentially pluralistic; not identifying but disseminating. It is a philosophy that does not compare by separating, but which creates by intertwining. The lingua franca of this space is translation.
The exercise we propose with this kind of philosophy is to make cultures meet, being resources to each other, developing this strenuous and continuous exercise of thought.

Activities

Scheduled events

Members of the Group

Founding members

  • Raquel Bouso (Associate Professor, Universidad Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona)
  • Enrico Fongaro (Associate Professor, Tōhoku daigaku)
  • Marcello Ghilardi (Associate Professor, Università di Padova)
  • Lorenza Bottacin Cantoni (Lecturer, Università di Padova)
  • Alberto Giacomelli (Lecturer, Università di Padova)
  • Francesca Greco (Research Assistant and PhD candidate, Universität Hildesheim)
  • Emma Lavinia Bon (PhD candidate, Università del Piemonte Orientale)

Associate members

  • Silvia Capodivacca, Università di Udine
  • Rudi Capra, Lecturer, University of Cork
  • Sara Francescato, Università di Padova
  • Alessio Gerola, Wageningen University
  • Emanuela Magno, Università di Padova
  • Lorenzo Marinucci, Tohoku University


Scientific Committee

  • Adone Brandalise (Full Professor, Universitä di Padova)
  • Rolf Elberfeld (Full Professor, Universität Hildesheim)
  • Uehara Mayuko (Full Professor, Kyoto Universiry)
  • Ōhashi Ryōsuke (Emeritus, Kogei Sen’i Daigaku, Kyoto)
  • Giangiorgio Pasqualotto (Emeritus, Università di Padova)
  • Arisaka Yoko (Research Assistant, Universität Hildesheim)