Library Catalog
Amazon cover image
Image from Amazon.com

Darwin, Dharma, and the Divine : Evolutionary Theory and Religion in Modern Japan / G. Clinton Godart.

By: Material type: TextTextSeries: Studies of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia UniversityPublisher: Honolulu : University of Hawaii Press, [2017]Copyright date: ©2017Description: 1 online resource (336 p.) : 12 b&w illustrations, 1 tableContent type:
Media type:
Carrier type:
ISBN:
  • 9780824858513
  • 9780824858674
Subject(s): Other classification:
  • online - DeGruyter
Online resources: Available additional physical forms:
  • Issued also in print.
Contents:
Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- CHAPTER ONE. The Religious Transmission of Evolutionary Theory in Meiji-Era Japan -- CHAPTER TWO. Evolution, Individuals, and the Kokutai -- CHAPTER THREE. The Dharma after Darwin -- CHAPTER FOUR.The Promise of Utopia -- CHAPTER FIVE. "Evolutionary Theory Is the Superstition of Modernity" -- CHAPTER SIX. Kannon's Enduring Embrace -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- About the Author
Summary: Darwin, Dharma, and the Divine is the first book in English on the history of evolutionary theory in Japan. Bringing to life more than a century of ideas, G. Clinton Godart examines how and why Japanese intellectuals, religious thinkers of different faiths, philosophers, biologists, journalists, activists, and ideologues engaged with evolutionary theory and religion. How did Japanese religiously think about evolution? What were their main concerns? Did they reject evolution on religious grounds, or-as was more often the case-how did they combine evolutionary theory with their religious beliefs?Evolutionary theory was controversial and never passively accepted in Japan: It took a hundred years of appropriating, translating, thinking, and debating to reconsider the natural world and the relation between nature, science, and the sacred in light of evolutionary theory. Since its introduction in the nineteenth century, Japanese intellectuals-including Buddhist, Shinto, Confucian, and Christian thinkers-in their own ways and often with opposing agendas, struggled to formulate a meaningful worldview after Darwin. In the decades that followed, as the Japanese redefined their relation to nature and built a modern nation-state, the debates on evolutionary theory intensified and state ideologues grew increasingly hostile toward its principles. Throughout the religious reception of evolution was dominated by a long-held fear of the idea of nature and society as cold and materialist, governed by the mindless "struggle for survival." This aversion endeavored many religious thinkers, philosophers, and biologists to find goodness and the divine within nature and evolution. It was this drive, argues Godart, that shaped much of Japan's modern intellectual history and changed Japanese understandings of nature, society, and the sacred.Darwin, Dharma, and the Divine will contribute significantly to two of the most debated topics in the history of evolutionary theory: religion and the political legacy of evolution. It will, therefore, appeal to the broad audience interested in Darwin studies as well as students and scholars of Japanese intellectual history, religion, and philosophy.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number URL Status Notes Barcode
eBook eBook Biblioteca "Angelicum" Pont. Univ. S.Tommaso d'Aquino Nuvola online online - DeGruyter (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Online access Not for loan (Accesso limitato) Accesso per gli utenti autorizzati / Access for authorized users (dgr)9780824858674

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- CHAPTER ONE. The Religious Transmission of Evolutionary Theory in Meiji-Era Japan -- CHAPTER TWO. Evolution, Individuals, and the Kokutai -- CHAPTER THREE. The Dharma after Darwin -- CHAPTER FOUR.The Promise of Utopia -- CHAPTER FIVE. "Evolutionary Theory Is the Superstition of Modernity" -- CHAPTER SIX. Kannon's Enduring Embrace -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- About the Author

restricted access online access with authorization star

http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec

Darwin, Dharma, and the Divine is the first book in English on the history of evolutionary theory in Japan. Bringing to life more than a century of ideas, G. Clinton Godart examines how and why Japanese intellectuals, religious thinkers of different faiths, philosophers, biologists, journalists, activists, and ideologues engaged with evolutionary theory and religion. How did Japanese religiously think about evolution? What were their main concerns? Did they reject evolution on religious grounds, or-as was more often the case-how did they combine evolutionary theory with their religious beliefs?Evolutionary theory was controversial and never passively accepted in Japan: It took a hundred years of appropriating, translating, thinking, and debating to reconsider the natural world and the relation between nature, science, and the sacred in light of evolutionary theory. Since its introduction in the nineteenth century, Japanese intellectuals-including Buddhist, Shinto, Confucian, and Christian thinkers-in their own ways and often with opposing agendas, struggled to formulate a meaningful worldview after Darwin. In the decades that followed, as the Japanese redefined their relation to nature and built a modern nation-state, the debates on evolutionary theory intensified and state ideologues grew increasingly hostile toward its principles. Throughout the religious reception of evolution was dominated by a long-held fear of the idea of nature and society as cold and materialist, governed by the mindless "struggle for survival." This aversion endeavored many religious thinkers, philosophers, and biologists to find goodness and the divine within nature and evolution. It was this drive, argues Godart, that shaped much of Japan's modern intellectual history and changed Japanese understandings of nature, society, and the sacred.Darwin, Dharma, and the Divine will contribute significantly to two of the most debated topics in the history of evolutionary theory: religion and the political legacy of evolution. It will, therefore, appeal to the broad audience interested in Darwin studies as well as students and scholars of Japanese intellectual history, religion, and philosophy.

Issued also in print.

Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.

In English.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 02. Mrz 2022)