The impact of science and technology on human life has given rise to a technology-mediated environment alongside our natural environment, presenting new issues concerning bioethics, environmental ethics, and the way in which technology is turning human beings into 'skilled animals.' The new field of eco-ethica explores issues arising from this changed habitat and our changing moral consciousness and presents an ethics that transcends interpersonal ethics so as to also encompass companies and governments. The author advocates learning from nature and argues that the human race has an ethical responsibility toward nature and things, including life itself. By demonstrating that virtues were created as necessary in the past, he raises the possibility of creating new virtues to meet contemporary needs. With a firm grasp of Western philosophy and ethics, the author adds a new dimension by contributing a Japanese perspective.

Philosophers from different regions of the world analyed and discussed questions trying to connect the traditional aesthetic approaches with contemporary interpretation. The chapters in this volume address the following questions: (1) Is there any common essence or property which characteries an object or performance as artistic or of high quality? (2) What are the roots and characteristics of processes and artistic creativity?

Tomonubu Imamichi is professor of philosophy at the International Center of Philosophy in Tokyo.

Hans Lenk is professor emeritus at the Institute for Philosophy at the University of Karlsruhe.