A special three-part issue on Deweyan approaches to contemporary issues at the intersection of da... more A special three-part issue on Deweyan approaches to contemporary issues at the intersection of data and technology.
Flowers, Johnathan, and Kevin Taylor. "Guest Editors’ Introduction." Education and Culture 37, no. 1 (2021): 4-6. muse.jhu.edu/article/836239.
A special three-part issue on Deweyan approaches to contemporary issues at the intersection of da... more A special three-part issue on Deweyan approaches to contemporary issues at the intersection of data and technology.
Taylor, Kevin, and Johnathan Flowers. "Guest Editors' Note." Education and Culture 37, no. 2 (2022): 1-3. muse.jhu.edu/article/861510.
WELCOME TO THIS SPECIAL SPRING 2022 ISSUE OF EDUCATION & CULTURE. WE are pleased to bring you t... more WELCOME TO THIS SPECIAL SPRING 2022 ISSUE OF EDUCATION & CULTURE. WE are pleased to bring you the third and final installment of this special three-part issue on Deweyan approaches to contemporary issues at the intersection of data and technology.
Taylor, Kevin, and Johnathan Flowers. "Guest Editors’ Note." Education and Culture 38, no. 1 (2022): 4-7. muse.jhu.edu/article/888567.
For Dewey, growth in the educative process means education that enriches and expands one’s experi... more For Dewey, growth in the educative process means education that enriches and expands one’s experience as it prepares students for not only a vocation but also entry into and transaction with the world. In few places can we see growth, generally understood, to be occurring as fast as in big data technology. This essay begins with an overview of what big data is, specifically what big data looks like in education as understood through learning management system platforms but also data as understood generally on a college campus through dataveillance, or data surveillance understood as the monitoring or possibility of monitoring of one’s data or online activity. In so doing, this essay acknowledges a selection of privacy concerns and educational challenges resulting from big data. I then proceed to the employment of intelligent technology in education with particular emphasis on algorithms and “algorithmic nudging.” I conclude with a Deweyan analysis of technology as continuous with culture and a discussion about the educational needs for technological environments to aid in the proper cultivation of individuals.
Eidos. A Journal for Philosophy of Culture 6, no. 3, 2022
This paper takes up Hadot’s call for more comparative work on Buddhism and Philosophy as a Way of... more This paper takes up Hadot’s call for more comparative work on Buddhism and Philosophy as a Way of Life by comparing Zen Master Hakuin Ekaku’s artwork Pilgrims with the graffiti artist Banksy’s The Street is in Play. Beyond the striking similarities in form and apparent tongue-in-cheek criticism of graffiti, this paper explains the context of Hakuin’s artwork and the text of his painting before exploring the importance of graffiti in the Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch. I argue that by taking up Hadot’s call for more comparative work we find that Hakuin’s Zen bears fruitful points of comparison with Hadot’s account of philosophy as a way of life. Furthermore, a comparison of the two artworks of Banksy and Hakuin helps us better understand both figures via thematic elements of humor and socially disruptive writings.
This paper analyzes Martin Luther King Jr. and Thich Nhat Hanh interpretations on the subject of ... more This paper analyzes Martin Luther King Jr. and Thich Nhat Hanh interpretations on the subject of love as cultivating exemplarity in individuals while creating the possibilities for real meaningful change in social justice movements and how love continues to be a thematic element in Angela Davis as love is required in extensions of civil rights: the rights of immigrants, the disabled, those suffering war, homophobia, and the environment.
Using Soto Zen master Dogen and his text "Instructions for the Cook" I propose that a Zen food et... more Using Soto Zen master Dogen and his text "Instructions for the Cook" I propose that a Zen food ethic goes beyond vegetarianism but has already within it a food waste ethic.
I will argue that the Japanese word mottainai is a uniquely East Asian conception of waste with r... more I will argue that the Japanese word mottainai is a uniquely East Asian conception of waste with roots in Buddhist philosophy amiable to both teaching the Buddha dharma and increasing environmental awareness and responsibility. As a pedagogical method to communicate the interconnectedness of humans and their environment, mottainai teaches an ecological humility by decentering the ego and situating the person within and constituted of the world. Deeply pragmatic, I will then address the aesthetic dimension of mottainai by giving a Deweyan perspective of the mottainai worldview that reorients us to the world as an embodied existence without fixed boundaries.
When you think of Rinzai Zen you probably think of koan recitation. The Zen Master Hakuin Ekaku (... more When you think of Rinzai Zen you probably think of koan recitation. The Zen Master Hakuin Ekaku (1685-1768) is famous for his revival of Rinzai Zen in Japan but how did he actually rescue Rinzai from obscurity? I will argue in this paper that Hakuin revived Rinzai Zen by popularizing Rinzai thereby making it more accessible to lay practitioners. The main themes in Hakuin's thought were 1) koan study, 2) postenlightenment training, 3) promulgating the dharma, and 4) denunciation of “do-nothing” Zen. While the first two themes in Hakuin's philosophy were conducive to temple Buddhist practices (world renunciation and the experience of enlightenment), the second two themes required Hakuin to be sensitive to the needs of the population during a time when temple support ceased to be a patron funded enterprise and Japan experienced a transition from Warrior Culture to Merchant Culture. Hakuin's own experience with Zen meditation taught him that an equilibrium must be reached between introspective meditation and the joys of everyday life. Hakuin taught that a student of Zen must see into his own nature and this is done through koan introspection. When Hakuin popularized Rinzai practice, he directed his students to make their life a koan in order to cultivate a virtuous life. His view became that one must engage in "meditation in the midst of activity" making Hakuin Zen a middle path practicable by monk and layperson alike.
Bridge Over Samsaric Waters is a paper that argues that Buddhism is pragmatic insofar as it provi... more Bridge Over Samsaric Waters is a paper that argues that Buddhism is pragmatic insofar as it provides a solution to an existential crisis. The pedagogy of Siddhattha Gotama understood as skillful means is used to outline ways in which the Buddha sought to alleviate the suffering of several of his interlocutors, particularly in the story of Gotami and the Mustard Seed wherein she seeks the Buddha to help her revive her dead child. The Buddha’s teaching, often casually described as pragmatic by many scholars, is described here through the pragmatic method of William James. Similarities between the two thinkers are outlined including the bridging of two extremes in Gotama between the annihilationists and the eternalists and in James between the tender-minded rationalists and the tough-minded empiricists. James’ conception of truth as helping bring old opinions harmoniously into new facts is of particular focus in this paper as this concept, I argue, is largely part of what Gotama uses to teach his interlocutors the four noble truths but especially dukkha and the overcoming of dukkha. This teaching offers a fundamental reorientation to the world of experience that views the world as shot through with relations (James’ pluralism and psychology lend a hand here as well). While this paper does not argue that Buddhism itself is pragmatic per se, it does argue that the compassionate teaching of the Buddha Gotama itself has strong correlations with the pragmatic method of Willliam James insofar as it provides a solution to an existential crisis.
In this paper I will argue that environmental historian Brett Walker’s hybrid causations theory r... more In this paper I will argue that environmental historian Brett Walker’s hybrid causations theory reveals a need to develop and teach an ecological awareness that highlights the web of interconnected causal factors resulting in our current ecological crisis. Buddhist pedagogy, contextualized in William James’ pragmatic method and put into practice alongside Deweyan pedagogy, offers a possible solution to this global existential crisis.
This paper presents a Japanese approach to the concept of waste through an analysis of the Japane... more This paper presents a Japanese approach to the concept of waste through an analysis of the Japanese word mottainai (“what a waste!” and “don’t be wasteful”). The paper begins by outlining Buddhist origins of the word and religious veneration of objects in Shinto. From there, the paper then presents the popularization of the term as a culturally unique phrase that has been promulgated by the Japanese Ministry of the Environment as part of its own environmental pedagogy. The cultural applications have attracted the notice of Kenyan environmental and political activist Wangari Maathai, adding the word to the three R’s as ‘respect’. The use of mottainai as a form of ontological humility in the face of our own increasingly polluted world is the focus of the conclusion. I argue here that Tanaka Shozo’s conservationist environmental philosophy itself amicable to Leopold’s Land Ethic and Carson’s critique of anthropocentricism.
This paper analyzes the Three Gorges Dam, China’s
implementation of cloud seeding, and China’s On... more This paper analyzes the Three Gorges Dam, China’s implementation of cloud seeding, and China’s One Child Policy as controversial phenomena in China’s continued campaign to deal with its growing population problem and the threat it poses to national sustainability. Since most of the issues presented here may not have been foreseeable problems in Confucius’ day, I will rely on the Confucian vernacular. While Confucius, Mencius and Xunxi use terms such as tian 天 in subtly different ways, all three of these individuals will have their voices heard as applicable to give multiple perspectives from the Confucian tradition. It is hoped that this paper will challenge the Confucian tradition’s measure of a successful government as based on human flourishing by contrasting flourishing with sustainability.
This paper explores the early debates regarding the Buddha-nature of plants and trees to show the... more This paper explores the early debates regarding the Buddha-nature of plants and trees to show the emphasis placed on nature broadly construed as vegetation and landscape. Because vegetation is alive but in a way different from humans and animals, these debates challenge whether or not the plants and trees should be thought to have Buddha-nature. Perhaps because the debate raised more questions than answers, the role of plants and trees do not occupy the same literary space as animals in the works that followed. That is not to say that animals occupied a privileged space however as their role in Buddhist literature was subject to change based on the author and time period. Even though their perceptions changed, animal’s cosmological position within rokudō did not. What it meant to be an animal was therefore anything but static. Animals were sometimes pitiable creatures, reincarnations of loved ones who slipped down the karmic ladder, and other times they were seen as an opportunity, creatures deserving of respect and reciprocity. The cosmological view of nature in Japanese Buddhism is certainly human centric but it offers an existential approach to human-animal-nature interaction with karma as the channel for movement up and down, or out, of samsaric existence.
A special three-part issue on Deweyan approaches to contemporary issues at the intersection of da... more A special three-part issue on Deweyan approaches to contemporary issues at the intersection of data and technology.
Flowers, Johnathan, and Kevin Taylor. "Guest Editors’ Introduction." Education and Culture 37, no. 1 (2021): 4-6. muse.jhu.edu/article/836239.
A special three-part issue on Deweyan approaches to contemporary issues at the intersection of da... more A special three-part issue on Deweyan approaches to contemporary issues at the intersection of data and technology.
Taylor, Kevin, and Johnathan Flowers. "Guest Editors' Note." Education and Culture 37, no. 2 (2022): 1-3. muse.jhu.edu/article/861510.
WELCOME TO THIS SPECIAL SPRING 2022 ISSUE OF EDUCATION & CULTURE. WE are pleased to bring you t... more WELCOME TO THIS SPECIAL SPRING 2022 ISSUE OF EDUCATION & CULTURE. WE are pleased to bring you the third and final installment of this special three-part issue on Deweyan approaches to contemporary issues at the intersection of data and technology.
Taylor, Kevin, and Johnathan Flowers. "Guest Editors’ Note." Education and Culture 38, no. 1 (2022): 4-7. muse.jhu.edu/article/888567.
For Dewey, growth in the educative process means education that enriches and expands one’s experi... more For Dewey, growth in the educative process means education that enriches and expands one’s experience as it prepares students for not only a vocation but also entry into and transaction with the world. In few places can we see growth, generally understood, to be occurring as fast as in big data technology. This essay begins with an overview of what big data is, specifically what big data looks like in education as understood through learning management system platforms but also data as understood generally on a college campus through dataveillance, or data surveillance understood as the monitoring or possibility of monitoring of one’s data or online activity. In so doing, this essay acknowledges a selection of privacy concerns and educational challenges resulting from big data. I then proceed to the employment of intelligent technology in education with particular emphasis on algorithms and “algorithmic nudging.” I conclude with a Deweyan analysis of technology as continuous with culture and a discussion about the educational needs for technological environments to aid in the proper cultivation of individuals.
Eidos. A Journal for Philosophy of Culture 6, no. 3, 2022
This paper takes up Hadot’s call for more comparative work on Buddhism and Philosophy as a Way of... more This paper takes up Hadot’s call for more comparative work on Buddhism and Philosophy as a Way of Life by comparing Zen Master Hakuin Ekaku’s artwork Pilgrims with the graffiti artist Banksy’s The Street is in Play. Beyond the striking similarities in form and apparent tongue-in-cheek criticism of graffiti, this paper explains the context of Hakuin’s artwork and the text of his painting before exploring the importance of graffiti in the Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch. I argue that by taking up Hadot’s call for more comparative work we find that Hakuin’s Zen bears fruitful points of comparison with Hadot’s account of philosophy as a way of life. Furthermore, a comparison of the two artworks of Banksy and Hakuin helps us better understand both figures via thematic elements of humor and socially disruptive writings.
This paper analyzes Martin Luther King Jr. and Thich Nhat Hanh interpretations on the subject of ... more This paper analyzes Martin Luther King Jr. and Thich Nhat Hanh interpretations on the subject of love as cultivating exemplarity in individuals while creating the possibilities for real meaningful change in social justice movements and how love continues to be a thematic element in Angela Davis as love is required in extensions of civil rights: the rights of immigrants, the disabled, those suffering war, homophobia, and the environment.
Using Soto Zen master Dogen and his text "Instructions for the Cook" I propose that a Zen food et... more Using Soto Zen master Dogen and his text "Instructions for the Cook" I propose that a Zen food ethic goes beyond vegetarianism but has already within it a food waste ethic.
I will argue that the Japanese word mottainai is a uniquely East Asian conception of waste with r... more I will argue that the Japanese word mottainai is a uniquely East Asian conception of waste with roots in Buddhist philosophy amiable to both teaching the Buddha dharma and increasing environmental awareness and responsibility. As a pedagogical method to communicate the interconnectedness of humans and their environment, mottainai teaches an ecological humility by decentering the ego and situating the person within and constituted of the world. Deeply pragmatic, I will then address the aesthetic dimension of mottainai by giving a Deweyan perspective of the mottainai worldview that reorients us to the world as an embodied existence without fixed boundaries.
When you think of Rinzai Zen you probably think of koan recitation. The Zen Master Hakuin Ekaku (... more When you think of Rinzai Zen you probably think of koan recitation. The Zen Master Hakuin Ekaku (1685-1768) is famous for his revival of Rinzai Zen in Japan but how did he actually rescue Rinzai from obscurity? I will argue in this paper that Hakuin revived Rinzai Zen by popularizing Rinzai thereby making it more accessible to lay practitioners. The main themes in Hakuin's thought were 1) koan study, 2) postenlightenment training, 3) promulgating the dharma, and 4) denunciation of “do-nothing” Zen. While the first two themes in Hakuin's philosophy were conducive to temple Buddhist practices (world renunciation and the experience of enlightenment), the second two themes required Hakuin to be sensitive to the needs of the population during a time when temple support ceased to be a patron funded enterprise and Japan experienced a transition from Warrior Culture to Merchant Culture. Hakuin's own experience with Zen meditation taught him that an equilibrium must be reached between introspective meditation and the joys of everyday life. Hakuin taught that a student of Zen must see into his own nature and this is done through koan introspection. When Hakuin popularized Rinzai practice, he directed his students to make their life a koan in order to cultivate a virtuous life. His view became that one must engage in "meditation in the midst of activity" making Hakuin Zen a middle path practicable by monk and layperson alike.
Bridge Over Samsaric Waters is a paper that argues that Buddhism is pragmatic insofar as it provi... more Bridge Over Samsaric Waters is a paper that argues that Buddhism is pragmatic insofar as it provides a solution to an existential crisis. The pedagogy of Siddhattha Gotama understood as skillful means is used to outline ways in which the Buddha sought to alleviate the suffering of several of his interlocutors, particularly in the story of Gotami and the Mustard Seed wherein she seeks the Buddha to help her revive her dead child. The Buddha’s teaching, often casually described as pragmatic by many scholars, is described here through the pragmatic method of William James. Similarities between the two thinkers are outlined including the bridging of two extremes in Gotama between the annihilationists and the eternalists and in James between the tender-minded rationalists and the tough-minded empiricists. James’ conception of truth as helping bring old opinions harmoniously into new facts is of particular focus in this paper as this concept, I argue, is largely part of what Gotama uses to teach his interlocutors the four noble truths but especially dukkha and the overcoming of dukkha. This teaching offers a fundamental reorientation to the world of experience that views the world as shot through with relations (James’ pluralism and psychology lend a hand here as well). While this paper does not argue that Buddhism itself is pragmatic per se, it does argue that the compassionate teaching of the Buddha Gotama itself has strong correlations with the pragmatic method of Willliam James insofar as it provides a solution to an existential crisis.
In this paper I will argue that environmental historian Brett Walker’s hybrid causations theory r... more In this paper I will argue that environmental historian Brett Walker’s hybrid causations theory reveals a need to develop and teach an ecological awareness that highlights the web of interconnected causal factors resulting in our current ecological crisis. Buddhist pedagogy, contextualized in William James’ pragmatic method and put into practice alongside Deweyan pedagogy, offers a possible solution to this global existential crisis.
This paper presents a Japanese approach to the concept of waste through an analysis of the Japane... more This paper presents a Japanese approach to the concept of waste through an analysis of the Japanese word mottainai (“what a waste!” and “don’t be wasteful”). The paper begins by outlining Buddhist origins of the word and religious veneration of objects in Shinto. From there, the paper then presents the popularization of the term as a culturally unique phrase that has been promulgated by the Japanese Ministry of the Environment as part of its own environmental pedagogy. The cultural applications have attracted the notice of Kenyan environmental and political activist Wangari Maathai, adding the word to the three R’s as ‘respect’. The use of mottainai as a form of ontological humility in the face of our own increasingly polluted world is the focus of the conclusion. I argue here that Tanaka Shozo’s conservationist environmental philosophy itself amicable to Leopold’s Land Ethic and Carson’s critique of anthropocentricism.
This paper analyzes the Three Gorges Dam, China’s
implementation of cloud seeding, and China’s On... more This paper analyzes the Three Gorges Dam, China’s implementation of cloud seeding, and China’s One Child Policy as controversial phenomena in China’s continued campaign to deal with its growing population problem and the threat it poses to national sustainability. Since most of the issues presented here may not have been foreseeable problems in Confucius’ day, I will rely on the Confucian vernacular. While Confucius, Mencius and Xunxi use terms such as tian 天 in subtly different ways, all three of these individuals will have their voices heard as applicable to give multiple perspectives from the Confucian tradition. It is hoped that this paper will challenge the Confucian tradition’s measure of a successful government as based on human flourishing by contrasting flourishing with sustainability.
This paper explores the early debates regarding the Buddha-nature of plants and trees to show the... more This paper explores the early debates regarding the Buddha-nature of plants and trees to show the emphasis placed on nature broadly construed as vegetation and landscape. Because vegetation is alive but in a way different from humans and animals, these debates challenge whether or not the plants and trees should be thought to have Buddha-nature. Perhaps because the debate raised more questions than answers, the role of plants and trees do not occupy the same literary space as animals in the works that followed. That is not to say that animals occupied a privileged space however as their role in Buddhist literature was subject to change based on the author and time period. Even though their perceptions changed, animal’s cosmological position within rokudō did not. What it meant to be an animal was therefore anything but static. Animals were sometimes pitiable creatures, reincarnations of loved ones who slipped down the karmic ladder, and other times they were seen as an opportunity, creatures deserving of respect and reciprocity. The cosmological view of nature in Japanese Buddhism is certainly human centric but it offers an existential approach to human-animal-nature interaction with karma as the channel for movement up and down, or out, of samsaric existence.
This paper begins by looking at Aristotle’s ethics with the notion of the phronêmos from an ecolo... more This paper begins by looking at Aristotle’s ethics with the notion of the phronêmos from an ecological perspective in order to see in what way Aristotelian virtue ethics can maintain a dialogue with contemporary environmental ethics. I begin by outlining the general framework of Aristotle’s requirements of external goods in relation to the development of virtue in order to address Aristotle’s concerns with concerns of environmental theorists. Since Aristotle counts friendship as the greatest of all external good, I explore his conception of friendship and attempt to flesh out to what extent humans can make friends with nature.
Here you can see the programme of the University of Cambridge Postgraduate Online Conference that... more Here you can see the programme of the University of Cambridge Postgraduate Online Conference that I organized together with my colleagues Alexandra S. Ilieva and Harry Harland. Keynote speakers: Prof. Albrecht Classen (University of Arizona, USA) and Prof. Graham Parkes (University of Vienna, Austria)
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Papers by Kevin Taylor
Flowers, Johnathan, and Kevin Taylor. "Guest Editors’ Introduction." Education and Culture 37, no. 1 (2021): 4-6. muse.jhu.edu/article/836239.
Taylor, Kevin, and Johnathan Flowers. "Guest Editors' Note." Education and Culture 37, no. 2 (2022): 1-3. muse.jhu.edu/article/861510.
Taylor, Kevin, and Johnathan Flowers. "Guest Editors’ Note." Education and Culture 38, no. 1 (2022): 4-7. muse.jhu.edu/article/888567.
implementation of cloud seeding, and China’s One Child Policy
as controversial phenomena in China’s continued campaign to
deal with its growing population problem and the threat it poses
to national sustainability. Since most of the issues presented here
may not have been foreseeable problems in Confucius’ day, I will
rely on the Confucian vernacular. While Confucius, Mencius and
Xunxi use terms such as tian 天 in subtly different ways, all three
of these individuals will have their voices heard as applicable to
give multiple perspectives from the Confucian tradition. It is hoped
that this paper will challenge the Confucian tradition’s measure of a successful government as based on human flourishing by contrasting
flourishing with sustainability.
Flowers, Johnathan, and Kevin Taylor. "Guest Editors’ Introduction." Education and Culture 37, no. 1 (2021): 4-6. muse.jhu.edu/article/836239.
Taylor, Kevin, and Johnathan Flowers. "Guest Editors' Note." Education and Culture 37, no. 2 (2022): 1-3. muse.jhu.edu/article/861510.
Taylor, Kevin, and Johnathan Flowers. "Guest Editors’ Note." Education and Culture 38, no. 1 (2022): 4-7. muse.jhu.edu/article/888567.
implementation of cloud seeding, and China’s One Child Policy
as controversial phenomena in China’s continued campaign to
deal with its growing population problem and the threat it poses
to national sustainability. Since most of the issues presented here
may not have been foreseeable problems in Confucius’ day, I will
rely on the Confucian vernacular. While Confucius, Mencius and
Xunxi use terms such as tian 天 in subtly different ways, all three
of these individuals will have their voices heard as applicable to
give multiple perspectives from the Confucian tradition. It is hoped
that this paper will challenge the Confucian tradition’s measure of a successful government as based on human flourishing by contrasting
flourishing with sustainability.
Keynote speakers: Prof. Albrecht Classen (University of Arizona, USA) and
Prof. Graham Parkes (University of Vienna, Austria)