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ERIC Number: EJ1182864
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2018-Mar
Pages: 12
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1881-4832
EISSN: N/A
Cultural-Moral Difference in Global Education: Rethinking Theory and Praxis via Watsuji Tetsurô
Sevilla, Anton Luis
Educational Studies in Japan: International Yearbook, n12 p23-34 Mar 2018
One important task in internationalizing Japanese education is educating Japanese citizens to become "global citizens." This paper is a philosophical analysis of how Global Education deals with the problem of cultural-moral difference (moral conflict that arises between different cultures). The usual approaches taken in Global Education and Kokusai Rikai Kyôiku are a mix of cultural relativism and moral anti-relativism. Teachers often take one of the following strategies to dismiss cultural-moral difference: utilitarianism, absolutized human rights, rational justification, or "two-layer" approaches (suggested by Will Kymlicka). But these fail to balance the need for both openness to the other and moral engagement. As an alternative, I discuss Watsuji Tetsurô's search for moral unity in the empty dynamic of individualization and harmonization that is then expressed as culture. This unity is sought through a "hermeneutics of moral action," which considers how people are emplaced in multiple relational contexts in space and time. I sketch how this can be applied through a class on "Ethics across Cultural Difference." This alternative (Buddhist-Confucian) approach thus suggests a second sense of internationalizing Japanese education--using Japanese traditional theories to provide solutions for a global problem.
Japanese Educational Research Association. UK's Building 3F, 2-29-3 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033 Japan. Tel: +81-3-3818-2505; Fax: +81-3-3816-6898; e-mail: jsse@oak.ocn.ne.jp; Web site: https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/browse/esjkyoiku
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Japan
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A