We are constantly being influenced and acted upon by various people, creatures and things, in other words, by beings outside our bodies. Taking Spinoza’s concept of ‘Affectus’ as a base, this book is an attempt by thirteen specialists from various fields, including anthropology, Japanese painting, primatology, cognitive psychology and philosophy, to present their work from the perspective of Affectus.

From a foray into the forest to study bonobos that led to the author’s experience of gradually resonating with the rhythms emitted by the forest, changing his senses to the point that he became able to identify the myriad of forest sounds, to descriptions of a large drum player showing his creativity and improvising only when he is affected by the precise rhythms that the cymbals and small drums chime in, and to the contemporary world of Japanese chess, where human players and AI interact and influence each other’s game play, the authors of this book present a new affective world view. 

Complex intrinsic forces, ‘outside of us’, are felt to exist, but are invisible, unpredictable, and different from oneself. We both wait for and accept something that comes from the outside, and somehow live that Outside. Reviewing our experiences from the Affectus perspective reveals a new world.

About Editors and Authors

Ryoko Nishii is a professor at the Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. She holds a PhD in literature. Her specialties and interests are anthropological fieldwork, ethnography of affect and the anthropology of death.

Tadashi Yanai has been a professor at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the University of Tokyo, since 2013. He received his PhD from the University of Tokyo in 1993. He was a visiting professor at the University of Barcelona, and an associate professor at Tenri University and the Graduate School of the University of Tokyo. He specializes in the anthropology of images and of nature, as well as philosophy.

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