Book contents
- The Cambridge History of Atheism
- The Cambridge History of Atheism
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Contributors
- Introduction
- Part I Preliminaries
- Part II Atheisms in History
- 4 Pre-modern Japan
- 5 Ancient Greece
- 6 The Roman Empire
- 7 India: 1500 BC to AD 1200
- 8 Christian Europe
- 9 The Islamic World
- Part III Reformation, Renaissance, Enlightenment
- Part IV Classical Modernity: Philosophical and Scientific Currents
- Part V Classical Modernity: Social and Political Currents
- Part VI Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries: Intellectual and Artistic Currents
- Part VII Lived Atheism in the Twentieth- and Twenty-First Centuries: Case-Studies
- Part VIII Emerging Atheisms in the Twenty-First Century
- Part IX Conclusion
- Index
- References
4 - Pre-modern Japan
from Part II - Atheisms in History
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 September 2021
Book contents
- The Cambridge History of Atheism
- The Cambridge History of Atheism
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Contributors
- Introduction
- Part I Preliminaries
- Part II Atheisms in History
- 4 Pre-modern Japan
- 5 Ancient Greece
- 6 The Roman Empire
- 7 India: 1500 BC to AD 1200
- 8 Christian Europe
- 9 The Islamic World
- Part III Reformation, Renaissance, Enlightenment
- Part IV Classical Modernity: Philosophical and Scientific Currents
- Part V Classical Modernity: Social and Political Currents
- Part VI Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries: Intellectual and Artistic Currents
- Part VII Lived Atheism in the Twentieth- and Twenty-First Centuries: Case-Studies
- Part VIII Emerging Atheisms in the Twenty-First Century
- Part IX Conclusion
- Index
- References
Summary
Writing on the subject of atheism in Japan before the modern period means discussing a concept for which the Japanese have multiple words, and yet none at all. Studying terms for their equivalence in other languages means we are always locating our own concepts in the discourse we are reading. When examining the evidence that indicates the presence of such a term in discourse, the project takes on the character of careful reading of texts and an examination of their context, if possible, in order to best understand how the term relates to other ideas and then an investigation of how this compares with the concept under consideration.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge History of Atheism , pp. 65 - 83Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021
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