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What Lies Beneath (and the testament to my leaving the Academia)
<p> I have been vocal and writing on the topic of Covid-19 since at least the 1st of March 2020. For irrational reasons, this pandemic has been politicized in North America in particular and people even started to claim resolving the 400-yearlong systemic racism must take precedence over securing the risk of transmission of this […]</p>
Issei Takehara
Sep 2, 202138 min read
![Enryō Inoue (井上円了) on the Soul [an excerpt from his Yōkaigaku Kougi, or Lectures on Yōkai Studies]](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/38b4c2_c7c71f9492604127a699e787046488cc~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_182,h_250,fp_0.50_0.50,q_30,blur_30,enc_avif,quality_auto/38b4c2_c7c71f9492604127a699e787046488cc~mv2.webp)
![Enryō Inoue (井上円了) on the Soul [an excerpt from his Yōkaigaku Kougi, or Lectures on Yōkai Studies]](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/38b4c2_c7c71f9492604127a699e787046488cc~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_218,h_300,fp_0.50_0.50,q_90,enc_avif,quality_auto/38b4c2_c7c71f9492604127a699e787046488cc~mv2.webp)
Enryō Inoue (井上円了) on the Soul [an excerpt from his Yōkaigaku Kougi, or Lectures on Yōkai Studies]
<p>Enryō Inoue (井上円了) 1858-1919 was a philosopher and a pioneer of occult studies in early modernity in Japan. His views on occult, or Yōkai, was unique in that he categorized anything supernatural or superstitious as well as natural things that are simply unexplained as Yōkai. His aim in occult studies, or henceforth Yōkai studies, was […]</p>
Issei Takehara
Jan 25, 201715 min read


History and Philosophy of Science and Medicine in pre-Modern Japan Vol. 2: Oni, Yokai and Evil Spirits as Causes of Illness (日本医療科学の哲学と歴史 第2弾:病因としての鬼、妖怪、そして魔)
<p> Having spoken of the scientific attitude in pre-modern Japan through the eyes of Ninja, who supposedly possessed supra human knowledge of the human behavior and natural medicine, it is now time to delve further into the Buddhist conception of how the world operated. In the first part of my research, […]</p>
Issei Takehara
Feb 10, 201536 min read
History and Philosophy of Transubstantiation
<p> Introduction One of the seven sacraments, Eucharist, is an activity of taking in consecrated bread and wine, which has literally become the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ. This miraculous event is explained in the doctrine of transubstantiation. According to this theory, the accidental properties of the bread and wine (colour, smell, taste, […]</p>
Issei Takehara
Feb 24, 201238 min read


History and Philosophy of Transubstantiation III: Descartes on Transubstantiation
<p>The doctrine of transubstantiation has puzzled philosophers and theologians alike since at least the time when Berengarius expressed his confession of faith in 1059 and 1079.[1] Berengarius’s vivid expression of the bread and wine in the Eucharist as “the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ… [and] truly handled and broken by the […]</p>
Issei Takehara
Dec 31, 201119 min read


Prospectus: History and Philosophy of Transubstantiation
<p>One of the seven sacraments, Eucharist, is an activity of taking in consecrated bread and wine, which literally become the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ. This miraculous event is explained in the doctrine of transubstantiation. According to this theory, the accidental properties of the bread and wine (colour, smell, taste, and shape, etc…) remain […]</p>
Issei Takehara
Sep 14, 20113 min read
The Enquiry into the Nature of Zombies and Their Alleged Cannibalistic Character
<p>Can zombies run? This is one of the many questions that one may come across when watching any zombie films. For, on the one hand, if their flesh is rotten, rapid motion would be impossible, but on the other hand, if their flesh is not rotten, most of the depictions about zombies in films would […]</p>
Issei Takehara
May 2, 201134 min read


Ethics of Cannibalism
<p>In the history of philosophy, cannibalism plays a pivotal role in the development of early modern medicine across the world. In its early years, cannibalism, in the form of ingesting mummies, was recommended by Avicenna (980-1037) as a subtle but resolutive remedy that could be used as an antidote to poison, and could cure epilepsy […]</p>
Issei Takehara
Feb 8, 201015 min read
EMPATHY: THE SOURCE OF GOOD AND EVIL
<p>I: Sentimental Value Why do we have no problems killing mosquitoes or small insects when we do have difficulty in justifying killing animals such as cats and dogs, and the like? Is it the size that matters? Some people say it is the size of the brain, or the mental capacity, while others say it […]</p>
Issei Takehara
Oct 7, 200914 min read


An Essay on “Does the Definition of Bathroom Necessarily Include Privacy?”
<p>An Essay on “Does the Definition of Bathroom Necessarily Include Privacy?” It has been brought to my attention that there are in fact bathrooms with transparent glasses around so as to deprive any users of the bathroom the kind of privacy they deserve. That this type of bathroom actually exists for use has been made […]</p>
Issei Takehara
Sep 16, 200917 min read
On an Attempt to Write on the Edibility of Cat Food as Such
<p>On an Attempt to Write on the Edibility of Cat Food as Such That an essay on whether cat food is edible to human beings was merely an attempt and was never written is obvious from the title of this essay. This is because in my attempt to do so, I faced three major problems […]</p>
Issei Takehara
Sep 16, 200910 min read
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