著者

加藤 喜市

出版者

美学会

雑誌

美学 (ISSN:05200962)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.66, no.2, pp.120, 2015-12-31 (Released:2017-05-22)

著者

加藤 喜市

出版者

日本倫理学会

雑誌

倫理学年報 (ISSN:24344699)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.70, pp.191-204, 2021 (Released:2021-06-14)

---

This paper will examine the influence of Aristotle in Miki Kiyoshi. In his philosophical essay ‘About Traveling’(in Notes on the Human Life),Miki says, “the travel is essentially theoretical” and “we will be purely theoretical in our travels.” What does Miki mean by these expressions, and what is its philosophical/ ethical significance? In the first part of the essay, Miki argues(i)the travel is a process(it is not the starting point nor the end point), that(ii)the travel is theoretical and that (iii)we feel the emotion of wonder in our travels. It seems that all of these points derive from his reading of Aristotle’s works. For, Aristotle argues in his Physics that the movement(kinēsis)is ‘the entelecheia of the being potentially X as such’ which means the movement is a process. And he thinks in the Nicomachean Ethics that the ultimate happiness for human beings is the theoretical activity(theōria),and he insists in his Metaphysics that the wondering(thaumazein) makes people do philosophy. Although Aristotle’s influence in ‘About Traveling’ is apparent, Miki’s thought is very original. While Aristotle’s arguments tend to prefer ‘end’ (telos)to ‘process’(genesis),Miki intentionally focuses on the process of the movement. This must be because Miki thinks that the life is a process like the travel and that both has the same structure. There is another difference between Miki and Aristotle. Aristotle praises the theoretical life as the best human happiness, but Miki doesn’t so. Considering the position in The Logic of Imagination which emphasizes the importance of ‘poiēsis,’ Miki should be negative about ‘theōria.’ But at least in ‘About Traveling,’ there is no critical attitude toward ‘theōria,’ and Miki’s position seems to be neutral. From the Aristotle’s description about the wondering and philosophy, Miki may use the word ‘theoretical’ as meaning ‘leading to the philosophy.’ Further, according to Aristotle’s conception of ‘the divine theōria,’ theoretical activity offers the extraordinary pleasure. Unlike the eternal god, human beings can enjoy this divine contemplation, only in the course of our travels, i.e., in our lifetimes.