Masahiro Morioka
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masahiromorioka.bsky.social
Masahiro Morioka
@masahiromorioka.bsky.social
Philosopher. Professor, Waseda University. Books: Painless Civilization (2003), Manga Introduction to Philosophy (2013), What Is Antinatalism? And Other Essays (2024). Editor of JPL: http://philosophyoflife.org Personal website: https://www.lifestudies.org
Pinned
The English translation of my 1996 book, “How to Live in a Post-Religious Age: Terrorism, Philosophy, and the Meaning of Life”, has been published as an open-access book.
www.philosophyoflife.org/tpp/howtoliv... (free PDF)
#cult #terrorism #philosophy

I believe that the arguments in this book
I’ve turned the English translation of my book "How to Live in a Post-Religious Age: Terrorism, Philosophy, and the Meaning of Life" (1996, 2025) into HTML pages. You can now read them on your smartphone too.

Chapter 1: Between Science and Religion
www.lifestudies.org/howtolive01....

..continues
Between Science and Religion: How to Live in a Post-Religious Age - Terrorism, Philosophy, and the Meaning of Life, Chapter 1
www.lifestudies.org
November 17, 2025 at 5:16 PM
International Association for the Philosophy of Death and Dying will be holding its sixth biennial conference June 9-11, 2026 at Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan. The deadline for abstract submissions is 3 November 2025.
www.philosophyofdeath.org/sixth-bienni...
October 22, 2025 at 5:14 AM
Reposted by Masahiro Morioka
Book cover for An Anthology of Blackness: The State of Black Design.

The presentation based on this chapter was really interesting. Didn’t know about the first emergency medical response team was formed by Black volunteers.
September 15, 2025 at 11:29 PM
Eighth International Conference on Philosophy and Meaning in Life
(March 26-28, 2026 | University of Oklahoma)
The deadline for abstracts will be October 26.
www.ou.edu/cas/philosop...
September 15, 2025 at 4:16 PM
In this Japanese book, I was interviewed about the “fear of death” (thanatophobia), and I explained my ideas in a clear and organized way. So if you’re interested in this topic, I think you’ll find it an easy and engaging read.
September 15, 2025 at 4:02 PM
During a casual chat at a small seminar, I mentioned proudly that I finally finished watching Harry Potter movies on my round trip to Edinburgh. But it turned out everyone else there knew Harry Potter inside out,
September 15, 2025 at 3:55 PM
My presentation on robots and the concept of inochi (“Can a robot have life?”) at the European Network of Japanese Philosophy (ENOJP) is now over, and after the long discussion I realized that my argument had many problems. On the night of the presentation,
September 8, 2025 at 4:52 PM
International Association for the Philosophy of Death and Dying will hold its sixth biennial conference on June 9–11, 2026, at Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan. We warmly invite you to come to Tokyo and join the discussion on the philosophy of death and dying at Waseda.
August 31, 2025 at 7:02 AM
Reposted by Masahiro Morioka
Roster of exciting new IAPDD events! (1) Call for abstracts for our biennial conference, being held in Tokyo, June 2026. Deadline for submissions is 3 November! www.philosophyofdeath.org/sixth-bienni...
Sixth biennial conference, Tokyo - Philosophy of Death
IAPDD will be holding its sixth biennial conference June 9-11, 2026 at Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan. Call for abstracts IAPDD seeks abstracts for presentations at the 2026 biennial conference. Abst...
www.philosophyofdeath.org
August 28, 2025 at 11:00 AM
At the ENOJP Conference in Edinburgh on September 4th, I will give a talk on robots and the concept of inochi (life). Below is a summary made by ChatGPT (😊). #robot #ethics #philsky
_____
This presentation asks a simple but profound question:
Can a robot have inochi (life)?

To answer this, I will:
August 25, 2025 at 11:16 AM
There has been very little philosophical work on the concept of “inochi” (life in Japanese) so far. I plan to revisit and update one of the few existing studies, my “The Concept of Inochi” (1991), and present it at the ENOJP conference in Edinburgh this September. enojp.org
European Network of Japanese Philosophy
Supporting and advancing the knowledge of Japanese Philosophy in European Languages
enojp.org
August 15, 2025 at 9:36 AM
The Spanish translation of my book Manga Introduction to Philosopy. (Introduccion a la Filosofia en manga.) It’s available on Amazon.
amazon.com/dp/B0DF6MDV97/
August 4, 2025 at 3:41 PM
When people read what I write, they often say the logical flow is super clear, that's probably one of my strengths. But when they actually talk to me, I’m just like, “Uh, I don’t know,” or “Hmm, I wonder…?” all the time. I guess that’s just how my brain is wired, so it can’t be helped.
August 4, 2025 at 3:35 PM
If I get a flash of a new idea, that alone keeps me happy for the rest of the day. On the flip side, if nothing like that comes up, I end the day feeling kind of unsatisfied. For me, the joy of discovering an idea might actually be greater than the feeling of making progress on a paper. #philosophy
August 2, 2025 at 3:26 PM
Today, while I was listening to a friend’s philosophy talk, I suddenly got closer to solving a philosophical problem I’d been thinking about, even though it was only loosely related to the topic of the lecture. It’s weird how breakthroughs often come from ideas that are just slightly off-topic.
July 30, 2025 at 9:04 AM
Reposted by Masahiro Morioka
Of course mood and outlook shape meaning of life, but the motivation to have reality the way one wants isn't sufficiently explored here. link.springer.com/article/10.1...
A Phenomenological Approach to the Philosophy of Meaning in Life - Philosophia
Philosophia - In this paper I introduce two phenomenological ideas, affordance and enaction, to the philosophical discussion of meaning in life. I further analyse how our attitude or commitment to...
link.springer.com
July 28, 2025 at 6:24 PM
This is another commentary on my paper "A Phenomenological Approach to the Philosophy of Meaning in Life". #philsky #psyhology
studyfinds.org/your-lifes-m...
Your Life's Meaning Changes Based On How You Choose To Face Crisis
New research proposes a “geographic model” showing how perspective shapes meaning in life’s darkest moments.
studyfinds.org
July 29, 2025 at 2:25 PM
Since Waseda University issued a news release, my recent paper, "A Phenomenological Approach to the Philosophy of Meaning in Life" (Philosophia — link.springer.com/article/10.1... ), has been featured on several newssites. #phenomenology #philsky #meaningoflife
neurosciencenews.com/exploration-...
Discovering Life’s Meaning Through Emotion and Exploration - Neuroscience News
A new philosophical theory proposes that the meaning of life isn’t something static, but something we feel out as we move through life with different emotional stances.
neurosciencenews.com
July 29, 2025 at 2:17 PM
Today I am giving a talk at Keio University titled:
"The Sense of Someone Appearing There: Other Minds, Deceased People, Robots, and Animated Persona".
July 3, 2025 at 3:27 AM
Reposted by Masahiro Morioka
🇯🇵🗞️ My April 2025 interview with Japanese philosopher and Waseda University professor Masahiro Morioka @masahiromorioka.bsky.social is available in Italian corriere.it/sette/25_apr... , English lifestudies.org/CORRIERE.html , and Japanese lifestudies.org/jp/CORRIERE_... . Please, check it out!
corriere.it
June 29, 2025 at 2:38 AM
I attended the 7th International Conference on Philosophy and Meaning in Life at Carleton University in Ottawa. All of the presentations I attended were interesting. I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Professor David Matheson for his excellent management of the conference.
June 28, 2025 at 12:33 PM
Night in Tokyo.
June 10, 2025 at 1:04 PM
Yesterday I met Costanza Rizzacasa d'Orsogna at Waseda University in Tokyo, and we took a stroll around Waseda's Okuma Garden (photo) and the main campus. It was a lovely day.
🇯🇵📚 A philosopher and a writer discussing the meaning of life in the garden at Waseda University (Shinjuku, Tokyo). You can read our interview in ENG lifestudies.org/CORRIERE.html JPN www.lifestudies.org/jp/CORRIERE_... ITA www.corriere.it/sette/25_apr... @masahiromorioka.bsky.social #JapanD6
June 7, 2025 at 5:53 AM
My paper "A Phenomenological Approach to the Philosophy of Meaning in Life" has been published in the latest issue of Philosophia. In this paper, I apply phenomenological concepts such as #affordance, solicitation, and #enaction to the subjective
link.springer.com/article/10.1... #phenomenology
A Phenomenological Approach to the Philosophy of Meaning in Life - Philosophia
Philosophia - In this paper I introduce two phenomenological ideas, affordance and enaction, to the philosophical discussion of meaning in life. I further analyse how our attitude or commitment to...
link.springer.com
June 6, 2025 at 12:38 PM
Reposted by Masahiro Morioka
The English translation of my 1996 book, “How to Live in a Post-Religious Age: Terrorism, Philosophy, and the Meaning of Life”, has been published as an open-access book.
www.philosophyoflife.org/tpp/howtoliv... (free PDF)
#cult #terrorism #philosophy

I believe that the arguments in this book
April 30, 2025 at 12:10 PM