Bodily Pathos and Virtue Ethics: On Miki Kiyoshi’s Logic of Imagination

Abstract

This paper revisits Miki Kiyoshi’s moral philosophy through the lens of virtue ethics, with a focus on the logic of imagination (構想力の論理). Having paid specific attention to pathos for his philosophy of action (行為の哲学), Miki would proceed to highlight the importance of feeling, pathos or sentiment for morality, which echoes a feature of contemporary virtue ethics. More importantly, Miki constructs his moral philosophy by emphasizing the body in conjunction with pathos. I therefore suggest that the uniqueness of Miki’s moral philosophy lies in the concept of bodily pathos. In order to unpack this claim, I shall begin by first examining why and how pathos plays an indispensable role for morality. Subsequently, I will consider how Miki focuses on the body in particular with respects to pathos. From there, I shall outline the ways in which virtue ethics can help rearticulate Miki’s concept of bodily pathos in a systematic and effective manner. Through exploring this subject, I aim to show that Miki is a pioneer with respects to the emphasis he places on the body for virtue ethics. For Miki, feeling must be exemplified by the body. He views the two as interconnected, and vital for morality. While there is an extensive body of scholarship on Miki’s philosophy of history, religion, humanism and so forth, his work on moral philosophy has been comparatively neglected. Yet, if we peruse his writings, it is easy to notice that many of his works actually include the Japanese terms for morality (dōtoku, 道徳) and ethics (rinri, 倫理), not to mention those concerned with action and poesis. Miki’s moral philosophy is without doubt an area deserving of thorough research, especially with respects to its relationship with virtue ethics.