Masatake Shinohara

Born 1975 in Kanagawa, Japan. Based in Kyoto, Japan.

With a primary focus on contemporary philosophy, environmental humanities, architecture, and art, Masatake Shinohara is questioning the dimension of human existence and writing about it. What is at stake is the topics such as the relationship between human artifice and nature, the human condition within the fragility of the contemporary world. Since the late 2010s, he tries to develop his thinking in relation with the site of creation of several artists. It has to do with a possibility of thought that gets in touch with the sensual realm that is prior to the conceptual way of understanding. His current writings include Ningen igo no Tetsugaku (Philosophy after Human). Tokyo: Kodansha, 2020. Jinshinsei no Tetsugaku (Philosophy in the Anthropocene). Kyoto: Jimbun Shoin, 2018. Fukususei no Ecology (Ecology of multiplicity). Tokyo: Ibunsha, 2016. His current essays in English include “The Luminous Openness of Rinko Kawauchi’s Photographs.” in Rinko Kawauchi, Illuminance, New York: Aperture, 2021. “Rethinking the Human Condition in the ecological collapse.” CR: The New Centennial Review 20, no. 2 ,2020, 177-203. He is also a translator of Timothy Morton’s books, Ecology without Nature (2007) and Humankind (2016).