HISTORY OF JAPANESE PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGIONS 2

This is one of the elective courses of the Corso di Laurea "Languages, Cultures and Societies of Asia and Mediterranean Africa".
Its formative objectives are within the area of cultural and humanistic skills learning.

Knowledge and understanding:
- to know and understand the cultural complexity of traditional Japanese religious experience in its historical and social context;
- to deepen, through the analysis of religious texts and rituals, knowledge and understanding of Japanese contexts, that may have already been studied in other teachings from different points of view (e.g. historical, artistic, literary, etc.), being able to understand the interrelation between the religious doctrines and the social context in different historical periods.

Ability to apply knowledge and understanding:
- to be able to analyze and interpret the philosophical and religious texts, using philological, historiographical and socio-anthropological methodologies;
- to be able to critically apply the analytical tools of religious studies.

Judgment skills:
- to be able to elaborate, in a personal and well-articulated manner, a critical analysis of the religious phenomena examined during the course;
- to subject various types of sources (statistic, academic, alternative) to critical examination;
- to refine the capacity to criticize essentialist and stereotypical discourses on "oriental religions".

Communication skills:
- to express and elaborate the contents of the program in written form, in a synthetic and effective way, without depending on automatic, schematic and mnemonic study.

Learning ability:
- to know how to take notes in a synthetic and effective way, highlighting the crucial points of the themes examined during the lectures;
- to know how to critically integrate the study of different materials (notes, manuals, virtual texts, academic articles);
- to be able to independently study materials and topics, even those not covered during the lectures;
- to refine the ability to study materials in English;
- to refine the capacity to use the online teaching platform.

It is recommended that students possess a good knowledge of the history of Japanese religious traditions, acquired through (however not exclusively) the course "History of Japanese philosophy and religions 1". Moreover, a basic knowledge of the history of Japan is advisable, acquired through (however not exclusively) attending the courses “Japanese History 1” and "Japanese History 2". It is recommended that students possess an intermediate level of English language (B2) in order to be able to deepen issues presented during classes, by resorting to the bibliography/reference texts.

The course will analyze the development of the main Japanese religious traditions from the Kamakura Period to 2000.

Ambros B., Women in Japanese Religions, New York University Press, 2015, pp. 76-96 (available in Moodle)
Breen J., Teeuwen M., A New History of Shinto, Wiley-Blackwell, 2010, pp. 199-220 (available in Moodle)
Deal W.E., Ruppert B., A Cultural History of Japanese Buddhism, Wiley-Blackwell, 2015, pp. 209-229; 231-250 (available in Moodle)
Hardacre H. Shinto. A History, Oxford University Press, 2017, pp. 207-233; 323-342; 348-351; 355-402 (available in Moodle)
Raveri M., Il pensiero giapponese classico, Einaudi, 2014, pp. 317-327; 338-345; 352-364; 410-529
Scheid B., “Shinto as a Religion for the Warrior Class. The Case of Yoshikawa Koretaru”, Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, 29, 3-4, 2002, pp. 299-324 (available in Moodle)
Üçerler M.A.J., “The Jesuit Enterprise in Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-century Japan”, in Worcester T. (ed), The Cambridge Companion to Jesuits, Cambridge University Press, 2008, pp. 153-168 (available in Moodle)

Written test (90 mins):
- part I: 6 multiple-choice questions
- part II: 3 open-ended questions

Part I is aimed at verifying knowledge and understanding of the themes of the course. It doesn't assign a score but requires that students provide at least 4 correct answers in order to be evaluated in part II.
Part II is aimed at verifying the ability to apply understanding in order to critically discuss the themes of the course.
Each open-ended answer receives a score in 30/30 points. The overall grade is given by the average between these answers.

A. Scores in the 18-22 range will be awarded in the presence of:
- sufficient knowledge and applied comprehension skills;
- limited ability to analyze and interpret philosophical and religious texts;
- sufficient communication skills, especially concerning the use of specific language.
B. Scores in the 23-26 range will be awarded in the presence of:
- fair knowledge and applied comprehension skills;
- discrete ability to analyze and interpret philosophical and religious texts;
- fair communication skills, especially concerning the use of specific language.
C. Scores in the 27-30 range will be awarded in the presence of:
- good or very good knowledge and applied comprehension skills;
- good or excellent ability to analyze and interpret philosophical and religious texts;
- fully appropriate communication skills, especially concerning the use of specific language.
D. "lode" will be awarded in the presence of excellent knowledge and applied understanding, excellent judgment and excellent communication skills.

Frontal lessons.
Bibliography and further readings are available on the Moodle platform.

See: "moodle" for syllabus and further materials.

This exam (with this syllabus) will be available only for the 4 "appelli" of the 2024-25 academic year. Starting from 2025-26, a new syllabus will be in use.

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