Description: A literal and philosophical journey through the experiences of the tea ritual and its aesthetic motives, unwrapping both for the novice and the experienced scholar alike.
Brief description: Adam Loughnane is Lecturer in Philosophy at University College Cork, Ireland. He is Co-Director of the Irish Institute of Japanese Studies, author of Merleau-Ponty and Nishida: Artistic Expression as 'Motor-Perceptual faith' (2019) and editor of Ueda Shizuteru: Zen, Language, Experience (2020).
Review Quotes:
"Through an inventive exploration of the aesthetic experience of the tea ceremony, Adam Loughnane unravels the seeming paradoxes of Eastern philosophy, illuminating not only distinctive but also some surprisingly congruent aspects of the Western tradition. His approach is both light-hearted and deeply serious, and a remarkable achievement!" --Nadine Willems, Associate Professor of Japanese History, University of East Anglia, UK
"The philosophical dialogue is a challenging form, and Adam Loughnane acquits himself admirably, placing it creatively in a tour narrative. From the phenomenological perspectives of a philosopher, an artist, a theologian, and a Guide, he focuses on the traditional tea ceremony as a prism that illuminates the aesthetics of Japanese garden making, architecture, ceramics, calligraphy, flower arrangement, and more. Brilliant!" --Graham Parkes, University of Vienna, Austria