The Berggruen Institute in Los Angeles has announced preeminent Japanese philosopher and literary critic Kojin Karatani as the winner of the 2022 Berggruen Prize for Philosophy & Culture. 

Launched in 2016, the $1 million award is given annually to thinkers whose ideas have profoundly shaped human self-understanding and advancement in a rapidly changing world. Karatani, the first Asian laureate, was selected for his radically original contributions to modern philosophy, the history of philosophy, and political thinking—making Karatani’s work particularly valuable in the current era of troubled global capitalism, crisis in democratic states, and resurgent but seldom self-critical nationalism. 

Born in 1941 in Amagasaki, Japan, Karatani was educated at Tokyo University, where he received a B.A. in economics and an M.A. in English literature. Initially famed for his studies of literature and aesthetics, Karatani went on to produce strikingly original work in political economy and the history of philosophy—combining literary, philosophical, political, and economic concerns in a heterodox exploration of the connections of language and number to money and aesthetics, for example, and to the simultaneously development of imperialist, capitalist, and philosophical systems. 

“Kojin Karatani is one of the most remarkable philosophers of our time. He has produced new philosophical concepts that delve into the nature of democracy, nationalism, and capitalism in an impressive ensemble where the notions of reciprocity and fairness loom large as the unifying links,” said Berggruen Jury Prize chair Antonio Damasio. “We are pleased to honor and herald the pathbreaking work of Kojin Karatani as someone whose ideas have helped us find direction, wisdom, and improved self-understanding in a world being rapidly transformed by profound social, political, cultural, and economic change.” 

(Photo credit: Kojin Karatani)