2.42 Jason Wirth on Philosophy, Zen, and Ecology

This episode of Spotlights features Jason Wirth, PhD, professor of philosophy at Seattle University, Soto Zen priest, and the founder and co-director of the Seattle University EcoSangha. We talk about his capacious engagements with Continental philosophy, Buddhism, ecological thought, indigenous lifeways, and more. We discuss some of his books, including Nietzsche and Other Buddhas: Philosophy after Comparative Philosophy (Indiana 2019), Mountains, Rivers, and the Great Earth: Reading Gary Snyder and Dōgen in an Age of Ecological Crisis (SUNY 2017), and Schelling’s Practice of the Wild (SUNY 2015). Incidentally, our conversation took place on a US National Holiday, July 4 (Independence Day), so our conversation naturally includes some political reflections, touching on topics of democracy, freedom, anarchy, and deep social ecology.