Masato Ishida

Humans and environment form a single continuum, part of a larger cosmic life. This, however, seems to imply that we are continuous even with the radioactive waste produced by the nuclear meltdown in Fukushima. There is nothing surprising about this, since in Buddhism no substance is considered to have intrinsic self-nature such as “clean” or “dirty”—indeed radioactive waste _is_ Buddha-nature in Dōgen’s worldview. On the other hand, there remains a clear distinction between purifying and nonpurifying _acts_, if Dōgen’s view of human agency in relation to the environment is correctly applied in our present-day context. Taking Fukushima as an example and scrutinizing Dōgen’s many passages on Buddha-nature, washing, and wrongdoing reveal our responsibility to participate in nature’s self-purifying process rather than making questionable appeals to “nondualism.”

Following a science and ontology conference in Barbizon, France, Layla Raïd and Karim Belabas published an article on Peirce and Quine that focuses on truth considered as the convergence of opinions or theories. 2 The article is a productive collaboration between a philosopher and mathematician, identifying two problems that Quine poses: first, the use of numerical analogy in Peirce’s account of truth, and second, the uniqueness of the final opinion, which can presumably be defeated or undermined by arguments from underdetermination of theories. 3 I accept their interpretation insofar as these two problems are considered to constitute main issues for those—including myself—who wish to advocate Peirce’s view, but..