of those ideas have an impact on some of my personal views on how we look at the world.
Diotima: Is there an influence of Japanese or other Eastern philosophy on your views?
Dr. Nagasawa: My approach is very much Western. It is a relatively recent thing that I try to expand my focus a little bit. It is easier for me to look at the Japanese tradition because this comes from my background. But it is not as if I started as a specialist in Japanese philosophy, I just look at these Japanese traditions, which I am somewhat familiar with, because sometimes they are inspirational. Because I am a Western philosopher, my framework is very much Western, sometimes it is quite refreshing to look at the other perspectives. That is why I now look at some of the Eastern ideas. I think it is an intellectually healthy thing because people tend to just set up a kind of specific framework to look at the problems, but in philosophy, we talk about all sorts of issues, and there are diverse perspectives.
Diotima: If there was a misconception about philosophy of religion, what do you think that would be, and how would you address it?
Dr. Nagasawa: Many people do not take the philosophy of religion seriously because they think that the philosophy of religion is just Christian apologetics. So this is where Christian theists shout at the atheists. I don't like this kind of picture, I like philosophy of religion because this is the area where we address all of the big questions, like the foundation of morality of the origin of the universe, science of religion. I think those topics are interesting for everyone, so I don't have any religious motivation to do philosophy of religion; I am just interested in those philosophical issues. So, I hope that many people will participate in this field, even if they are not religious or not interested in theological issues
Volume VIII (2025) 66
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