Gereon Kopf
Gereon Kopf received his Ph.D. from Temple University (1996). He is affiliated with Luther College. Sponsored by the Japan Foundation and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, he visited Ōbirin University (1993-1994), Nanzan University (2002-2004), and Tōhoku University (2022) as visiting researcher. He taught at Hong Kong University (2008-2009) Saitama University (2013, 2015, 2016), the Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg (2018), and the University of Iceland (2017-2022), and served grants from the Wabash Center (2020-2022) and the ASIANetwork (2024) as P.I. He published 60+ academic articles and book chapters as well as 60+ encyclopedia entries, blogs, and essays in the fields of Japanese Buddhism, Japanese and/or Buddhist philosophy, philosophy of religion, and philosophy of mind, authored Beyond Personal Identity (2001), co-edited Merleau-Ponty and Buddhism (2009), edited the Dao Companion to Japanese Buddhist Philosophy (2019), co-edited Engaging Philosophies of Religion: Thinking Across Boundaries (2025), and is the founding editor of the Journal of Buddhist Philosophy. He is currently working on Zen: Myth, History, and Diversity (2026) and Philosophy of Mind Around the World (2026). He has developed the paradigm shifting Fourth-Person philosophy and the Multi-entry approach.
Negotiating Logic, Languages, and Worldviews: Introducing the Fourth Person Philosophy
In discourses on comparative and global philosophies, scholars frequently negotiate various kinds of logic such as Aristotelian logic, formal logic, empathic logic, mystics' logic, the so-called "logic of sokuhi," etc. While logic is often treated to be translinguistic, there are clear connections between various forms of logic and specific languages. This paper will introduce what I call "Fourth-Person Philosophy" as a method to negotiate and understand various forms of logic and languages. This philosophy is inspired by languages such as Ainu and Ojibwe, Huayan and Chan/Zen philosophies, Nishida's philosophy of basho, and Dōgen's philosophy of expression. It will present an innovative method to negotiate and understand various ways of thinking and to conduct global philosophy.
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