Matthew Izor
Ph.D., Philosophy - University of Hawaii Manoa (2020)
Matthew’s current book project involves providing a biosemiotic interpretation of the philosophy of Nishida Kitaro, In particular arguing that reducing the focus on a Zen interpretation of his theories of Pure Experience and Basho (place) we can provide evolutionary grounds for the emergence of experience, consciousness and personhood. Matthew is also working on an article in which he uses the artistic approach of Kendrick Lamar as an interpretive twist on the metanoetic philosophy of Tanabe Hajime. The idea is that what Tanabe argued was a moral/spiritual death-and-resurrection-through-witnessing might also be conceptualized as an aesthetics of reconciliation practices.
This quarter Matthew is teaching two sections of PHIL 11 Cultures & Ideas: Personal Identity and Community and one section of PHIL 17 Informal Logic. In the winter quarter, Matthew will be teaching an upper-division course on Japanese philosophy, focused primarily on the writing of Nishida Kitaro. Spring quarter will include a class on Formal Logic and a class on Classical American Philosophy.