The Ethics of Engaged Pedagogy: A Comparative Study of Watsuji Tetsurô and bell hooks

Abstract

This article is a comparative study of bell hooks's "engaged pedagogy" with Watsuji Tetsurô's systematic ethics. The purpose of this comparison is twofold. The first reason is to examine the relational view of ethics that underlies hooks's thought in order to explore her deliberately "un-academic" work in a philosophically rigorous way. The second reason is to examine the fundamental connections of Watsuji's ethics of human existence to an education for human becoming. This comparison will be carried out in two stages. First, I will examine the connections of hooks and Watsuji on the level of society and relational structures. Second, I will delve deeper into the existential/spiritual level in the ethics/education of emptiness.