is a Japanese philosopher, who studies Chinese philosophy and has taught in Europe (Paris and Germany) as well as in Japan (he is also emeritus professor of the University of Palermo). Since 1979 he is president of the Centre International pour l'Étude Comparée de Philosophie et d'Esthétique and since 1997 of the International Institute of Philosophy. In 1976 he founded the journal Aesthetics.

He translated in Japanese Aristotle's Poetics (in 1972) and has written numerous books in Japanese. Imamichi is a supporter of communication between cultures. He has characterized Western philosophy as an attempt to achieve a God's eye view (das in-dem-Gott-sein; to be in the being of God) and Eastern philosophy as an attempt to be in the world (das-in-dem-Welt-sein). Imamichi see in both stances two incomplete and complementary humanisms, and observes that since the publication of The Book of Tea, some Western philosophers have adopted a more Eastern stance while other Eastern philosophers have attempted to reach the Absolute or the Eternal.

According to him, Heidegger's concept of the Dasein, formulated in Sein und Zeit, was inspired — although Heidegger remains silent on this — by Okakura Kakuzo's concept of das-in-dem-Welt-sein (to be in the being of the world) expressed in The Book of Tea in an attempt to describe Zhuangzi's philosophy for Westerners. Imamichi's teacher had offerred the German translation of The Book of Tea to Heidegger in 1919, after having followed lessons with him the year before . In 1968, Imamichi was invited by Hans-Georg Gadamer, a student of Heidegger, for lectures at Heidelberg, but their relationship became very cool after that Imamichi pointed out that Heidegger had not given the source of his concept of the Dasein. Imamichi and Gadamer renewed contact four years later during an international congress .

References

Bibliography

• In Search of Wisdom. One Philosopher's Journey, Tokyo, International House of Japan, 2004
• 'Restrospectiva et Prospectiva Eco-ethics' in Acta Institutionis Philosophiae et Aestheticae, 2004, 22:1-10 (an article written in English, Latin, German, French, Chinese, etc.)
• Betrachtungen über das Eine, Institute of Aesthetics of Tokyo, 1968
• Aspects of Beautiful and Art, 1968
• Self-Development of the Identity, 1970
• The Localisation and the orientation of Interpretation, 1972
• Essay on beauty, 1973
• Studia Comparata de esthetica, 1976
• Aristotle, 1980
• Aesthetics in the Orient, 1980
• Philosophy in the East and in the West, 1981
• Contemporary Philosophy, 1984
• The History of the Western Philosophy, 1986
• Eco-Ethica, 1990
• Le texte comme distance de la Divinité, in "Archivio di filosofia" anno LX, 1992, 1-3
• Introduzione alla filosofia naturale, 1993.

External links

• Quick biography of Tomonubu Imamichi
• The Japanese Eco-Ethics, interview