Isaac Shapiro and Shuji Takashina discuss religion, law, and education in Japan, with some comparisons to those cultural institutions in the United States.
In the second segment [18:10], Helen North discusses the classical Greek philosopher Plato, including the self-conscious style of his writing, in which there is a distinction between content and style. North explains the definition and history of “rhetoric,” the arts of persuasion, and the Sophist philosophical movement. She compares and contrasts Plato’s world to the present.
At the time of this interview, Shapiro, a trustee of the National Humanities Center, was past-president of the Japan Society. Takashina, a Fellow at the Center (1981-82), was professor of art history at the University of Tokyo.
North was professor of classics at Swarthmore College.
This edition of Soundings was conducted by Wayne J. Pond.
