The Magic Lantern as a Lens for Observing the Eye in Tokugawa Japan

Technology, translation, and theRangakumovement

Bibliographic Data

ID3665030
AuthorsLewis Bremner (0000-0002-5485-7005, University of Oxford, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume54
Issue3
Pages691-729
Publication date2020-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueModern Asian Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0026-749X • E-ISSN: 1469-8099
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0026749x19000143
OpenAlexW2980914984
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited13

This article explores the thoughts and ideas associated with magic-lantern technology in late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Japan. Its primary focus is on trends in Japanese thought from the 1770s until the 1820s, with specific reference to theRangaku('Dutch Studies') movement. The article examines connections between the magic lantern and a wider discourse within Japan on epistemology, knowledge about nature, and the study of the human body, centring upon the device's vital role in the endeavour to understand the workings of the human eye. Through this lens, a fresh perspective is offered on the role of critical analysis in the translation and interpretation of European texts in Tokugawa Japan, as well as on the shifting prominence of empiricism and deductive reasoning in Japanese epistemology. In this way, the history of the magic lantern is used to look beyond the prevailing West-centred narrative of global technological and intellectual development

Aesthetics · Art · Art history · Empiricism · Epistemology · Interpretation (philosophy · Lantern · Literature · MAGIC (telescope · Narrative · Perspective (graphical · Sociology · Visual arts · Chinese history and philosophy · History · History of Science and Natural History · History, Culture, and Diplomacy · Philosophy

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