Name Shunsuke Tsurumi Role Philosopher | Education Harvard University | |
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Died July 20, 2015, Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan Books A cultural history of postwar Japan, An Intellectual History of Wartime Japan: 1931-1945, Japanese Conceptions of Asia Parents Yusuke Tsurumi, Aiko Tsurumi Similar People Makoto Oda, Chizuko Ueno, Jakucho Setouchi, Kenzaburo Oe, Hayao Kawai | ||
Shunsuke Tsurumi (鶴見 俊輔, Tsurumi Shunsuke, June 25, 1922 – July 20, 2015) was a Japanese historian and philosopher.
After graduating from Harvard University, an A.B., Honors Harvard University in 1942, he was deported on a personnel exchange vessel with his sister Tsurumi Kazuko, Takeda Kiyoko, and Maruyama Masao. Tsurumi taught at Kyoto University.
In 1946, he started the magazine Shiso-no Kagaku ("Science of Thought") with six other people including those who were onboard the same deportation vessel with him Takeda, Maruyama and his sister Kazuko. He was a member of the anti-Vietnam War group Beheiren. Shiso no kagaku was among numerous magazines popped up post-war period, when common people wanted to express themselves. It was unique as it accepted essays from anybody with no discrimination on the authors' academic or sociological background, not limited to politically active students, and printed those on their pages written by nurses, teachers, or social workers for poor factory areas in Tokyo. Tsutsumi was the chief editor of Shiso no kagaku, which editors freely discussed on their theme and selection of articles for each issue.
He was one of the first students of Willard Van Orman Quine. He died on July 20, 2015 of pneumonia in Kyoto, Japan. Also thought as a literature and philosophy historian, he wrote several books and articles: