Matthew Izor
Ph.D., Philosophy - University of Hawaii Manoa (2020)
Dr. Izor's research focuses on comparative and interpretive projects regarding the main figures of the Kyoto School of Japanese Philosophy. His current book project involves providing a biosemiotic interpretation of the philosophy of Nishida Kitaro. In particular arguing that by reducing the primacy of a Zen interpretation of his theories of Pure Experience and Basho (place) we can provide conceptual grounds for thinking about the evolution of experience, consciousness and subjectivity in biological organisms. 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.
Dr. Izor regularly teaches Culture & Ideas, Ethics in Society, and Japanese Philosophy.