About Dr. Taylor

Dr. Taylor joined the Memphis Philosophy faculty in 2018. He teaches Asian Religions, Philosophy of Religion, Elementary Logic, and Ethics. His research interests includes Asian Philosophy (especially Buddhism, Japanese Philosophy and Confucianism), Environmental Philosophy, and Applied Ethics (Data Ethics, Ethics of Information Technology, and AI Ethics).

Dr. Taylor is currently a co-organizer for the International Association for Japanese Philosophy at APA Central. He has served as the Webmaster and Membership Manager for the Society for Asian and Comparative Philosophy since 2014 as well as the Webmaster for the International Society for Chinese Philosophy from 2017 to 2020.

Select Publications

(forthcoming) “Empty Gestures: Women in the Writing and Accounts of Zen Master
Hakuin Ekaku" in Women and Representation in Buddhist Asia: Innovative Pedagogies, Alternative Narratives, and Reimagined Philosophies, edited by Antoinette DeNapoli, Sujata Gadkar-Wilcox, and Kevin Curtis Taylor. SUNY Press.

Taylor, Kevin, and Eli Kramer. 2024. "Spiritual Exercises in the Rinzai Zen Tradition: Imminence and Disruption in Ikkyū Sōjun and Hakuin Ekaku" Religions 15, no. 2: 226. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15020226 

"Data and Growth in Education: A Deweyan Analysis," (2023) Education and Culture: Vol. 38 : Iss. 1, Article 5.  https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/eandc/vol38/iss1/art5

Don’t Lose Your Head: The Interconnectedness of Queen and Highlander. In Queen and Philosophy: Guaranteed to Blow Your Mind. Open Court Press, 2023.

"Mottainai: A Japanese Philosophy of Waste." Japan Up Close. March 24, 2023. https://japanupclose.web-japan.org/techculture/c20230324_3.html 

"This course asks, ‘What is mindfulness?’ – but don’t expect a clear-cut answer." The Conversation. March 23, 2023. https://theconversation.com/this-course-asks-what-is-mindfulness-but-dont-expect-a-clear-cut-answer-201850 

“Mutterings to the Wall.” Eidos. A Journal for Philosophy of Culture 6, no. 3 (2022):  98-115. https://eidos.uw.edu.pl/mutterings-to-the-wall/ 

"The Way of Thought and Practice." Review: Poul Andersen, The Paradox of Being: Truth, Identity, and Images in Daoism. Eidos. A Journal for Philosophy of Culture 6, no. 2 (2022): 92-97. https://eidos.uw.edu.pl/the-way-of-thought-and-practice/ 

"Japan’s ‘waste not, want not’ philosophy has deep religious and cultural roots, from monsters and meditation to Marie Kondo’s tidying up." The Conversation. October 28, 2022. https://theconversation.com/japans-waste-not-want-not-philosophy-has-deep-religious-and-cultural-roots-from-monsters-and-meditation-to-marie-kondos-tidying-up-190123

“Situating Narrative and Systematic Accounts of Wisdom.” Eidos. A Journal for Philosophy of Culture 5, no. 1 (2021): 155-161. https://doi.org/10.14394/eidos.jpc.2021.0011.

"Personalism from India to Japan: Divergence and Convergence of Spirit" in The Cultural Power of Personal Objects: Traditional Accounts and New Perspectives (State University of New York Press, Dec. 2021).

"Friendship in Aristotle and Buddhism: Confluences and Divergences" in Love and Friendship Across Cultures (Springer, 2021) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-4834-9_3

"Material Flows: Human Flourishing and the Life of Goods" in A World in Discourse: Converging and Diverging Expressions of Value (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2015).

"Classifying the Inhuman: Flora and Fauna in Japanese Buddhist Cosmology" in Cross Currents: Comparative Responses to Global Interdependence (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2013).

"Avoiding Waste with the Japanese Concept of 'Mottainai'. The Philosopher's Zone. August 2015.
http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/philosopherszone/avoiding-waste-with-the-japanese-concept-of-'mottainai'/6722720

"Review of Shugendō Now" in Asian Educational Media Service, News and Reviews Issue #41, Summer 2011.
http://www.aems.illinois.edu/publications/filmreviews/shugendo.html

Edited Journal Issues/Special Issues

"Deweyan Approaches to Contemporary Issues at the Intersection of Data and Technology" Education and Culture: The Journal of the John Dewey Society 37 (1) (2021): June 2021.

"Deweyan Approaches to Contemporary Issues at the Intersection of Data and Technology" Education and Culture: The Journal of the John Dewey Society 37 (2) (2021): November 2021.

Podcasts

Listen to a podcast of Dr. Taylor's discussion of "Avoiding waste with the Japanese concept of 'mottainai'," on The Philosopher's Zone (Australian Broadcasting Corporation Radio National).

Recent and Upcoming Presentations

"Hakuin's Street Art: Adopting Toba-e for Zen Mutterings." University of San Francisco. Annual Society for Asian and Comparative Philosophy Conference 2022.

"Selling Mindfulness from Hakuin Zen to Jon Kabat-Zinn." Virtual, USA. 2021 Central Division Meeting of the American Philosophical Association. February 26, 2021.

"Personality of Objects in Japanese Religious Thought." American Institute for Philosophical & Cultural Thought. March 07, 2020.

"Moral Cultivation in Hakuin's Syncretic Buddhist Pedagogy." Denver, Colorado. 2019 Central Division Meeting of the American Philosophical Association. February 21, 2019.

"Ecology of a Kōan: Hakuin Zen and Mindfulness in the Midst of Activity." Chicago, Illinois. 2018 Central Division Meeting of the American Philosophical Association. February 21 – 24, 2018.

"Virtue Ethics and Virtue Signaling: Privacy Concerns in Social Media." Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Illinois. 4th Annual ASA Multidisciplinary Research Symposium. November 04, 2017.

"Hakuin's Neo-Confucian Perspective in Tokugawa Japan." Baltimore, Maryland. 2017 Eastern Division Meeting of the American Philosophical Association. January 04 – 07, 2017.

"Zen in the Kitchen: A Buddhist Philosophy of Waste." San Antonio, Texas. 2016 American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting. November 19 – 22, 2016.

"Personalism from India to Japan: Divergence and Convergence of Spirit." Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, North Carolina. Eleventh Biennial Personalist Seminar: Hindu Personalism and Schopenhauer. July 31 – August 05, 2016.

"Zen in the Kitchen: Towards Japanese Buddhist Food Ethic." University of North Texas, Denton, Texas. Moral Cultures of Food: Access, Production, and Consumption, Past and Present. UNT Initiative in Food Culture and Environment. April 2-4, 2015.