Natural Freedom: Human/Nature Nondualism in Japanese Thought

Dr Bret Davis (Loyola University, Baltimore)

Despite the existence of marginal philosophical movements such as Deep Ecology, environmentalists today often continue to speak in the philosophical idiom of their opponents when they debate the impact of human activity on the natural world.  This way of speaking, whether inadvertent or intentional, perpetuates a human/nature dualism with deep roots in the philosophical and theological traditions of the West.  On the other hand, to those who do not think of human minds or souls as supernatural entities, it may seem that the only alternative left is that provided by a deterministic materialism that strips us of core elements of our humanity, including our freedom. 

The problem is that many of us today can neither swallow the metaphysical dogma that would separate our souls from the natural world nor bite the deterministic bullet and renounce our longing for—and inner sense of—freedom.  The question then is: Can we find a path that leads beyond these apparent conflicts between freedom and nature?  One thing seems clear: if there is such a path of reconciliation, it would entail along the way a radical rethinking of the very concepts of “nature” and “freedom.” What I intend to demonstrate in this talk is that Japanese thought has much to contribute to precisely such a rethinking of nature and freedom, a rethinking which sees them as nondually interrelated in their origins and as ultimately reconcilable through holistic practices.  By drawing on a number of traditional and modern Japanese thinkers, I shall explore the philosophical sources in Japan for recognizing and realizing the possibility of a natural freedom. 

Although it is true that modern, Westernized policies and practices in Japan have contributed more to the exacerbation than to the amelioration of environmental destruction, the nondualistic conception of the relation between humans and nature that can be found in much of traditional Japanese thought and in some modern Japanese philosophies may well help us rethink the dualistic presuppositions and false dichotomies that lie at the ideological roots of our ecological problems.  We need to learn to think of and experience the world, not in terms of humans versus nature, nor even just in terms of humans in cooperation with nature, but rather in terms of humans in nature, humans as part of nature, humans as participating in nature.  And this entails, I mean to show in this exploration of Japanese thought, a rethinking of nature, of naturalness, of humanity, and of freedom.