現象學訴求「回到實事本身」，而以現象學為基礎所開展出的現象學倫理學，乃主張回到最原初的倫理現象—人作為倫理的主體，回應他者的召喚。由日本大阪大學鷲田清一（Washida Kiyokazu）教授與台灣慈濟大學余德慧教授（Der-Heuy Yee）所分別開創的「臨床哲學」(clinical philosophy) 與「人文臨床(humanistic clinical practice) 運動，皆以受苦的現場作為中介，以期開展出關注或解決時代問題的哲學或人文科學。鷲田清一提出「受苦的現場即臨床」，而余德慧則以為「無論藝術、哲學、文學、人類學、心理學、宗教學等，看似與正規臨床無關的領域，都有其對受苦生命產生人性啟發的可能」。本會議旨在揭櫫近代西方文明快速發展在亞洲脈絡下所造成的文化失調如何在各領域產生受苦的現場，哲學或人文科學如何回應此一現象。

‘Back to the things themselves’ is a rally cry of the phenomenological movement. The ethics in phenomenological approach proposes to back to primitive ethical phenomenon, that is, as an ethical subject, human being responds to the other. In East Asia, Prof. Washida Kiyokazu of Osaka University in Japan initiates clinical philosophy and Prof. Der-Heuy Yee of Tzu Chi University in Taiwan founds humanistic clinical practice, they both stress the lived experience of suffering and attempt to develop philosophy or human science which concerns and further to encounter problems in our time. Prof. Washida Seiichi proposed ‘clinical means the lived experience of suffering’, Prof. Der-Heuy Yee advocated ‘Which seems to be nothing to do with formal clinical research, including art, philosophy, literature, anthropology, psychology, religious studies etc., is capable to illuminate the suffering lives and inspire them to transcend the given situation.’ The aim of the conference is to disclose how the fast-developing modern western civilization is bringing cultural lag forth and causing influence on different areas of our life world, then many lived experiences of suffering subsequently were given; furthermore, how philosophy or human science respond these phenomena.