Kyle Austin Peters

Kyle Austin Peters is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Japanese Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). He completed his Ph.D. in East Asian Languages and Civilizations from the University of Chicago in 2021 and held a Reischauer Institute Postdoctoral Fellowship at Harvard University for 2022-2023.

His research focuses on Japanese cultural criticism and media studies, particularly modern Japanese philosophy, aesthetics, and print culture as it intersects with Critical Theory. His work examines the Kyoto School philosophy through the lens of Critical Theory concepts, especially the notion of totality, and investigates how media forms like print culture shape philosophical thought in modern Japan.

Peters' publications demonstrate a consistent engagement with Japanese intellectual history, with articles appearing in prestigious journals such as Philosophy East and West and Journal of Aesthetics and Phenomenology. His research spans both historical analysis of Japanese philosophy and contemporary theoretical frameworks, creating bridges between Eastern and Western philosophical traditions.

• Reischauer Institute Postdoctoral Fellowship at Harvard University (2022-2023)

His current book project, "Kyoto School and Totality," challenges conventional interpretations of the Kyoto School as merely a "school of modern Japanese Buddhist philosophy" and instead positions it as a dynamic intellectual movement engaged with global philosophical trends and media forms of modernity. His second book project focuses on Nakai Masakazu, an understudied philosopher and media theorist from interwar and postwar Japan.