Abstract
The term “Kyoto School” appears to possess a kind of ambivalent meaning. In an affirmative or positive sense it is the appellation of perhaps the only school of philosophy that can be said to be representative of modern Japan, the group of philosophers that has attracted attention in Europe and America since the war as the Kyoto school or Kyoto Schule. Briefly stated, it is an attempt to express an Eastern (or Japanese) way of thinking and seeing things based on the Buddhist philosophical tradition through the use of the terms, concepts and logical framework of Western philosophy . And as an antithesis to the Western way of thinking and seeing things, we might add that it occupies an important position in terms of comparative thought. In particular, it presents a completely different way of thinking to that of the Western tradition in regard to the fundamental issues of philosophy, such as reality (the absolute), history (time), the relationship between the universal and the individual, dialectics, and so on. In this sense the philosophy of the Kyoto School possesses an extremely positive significance as the mediator of an encounter between Buddhist thought and Western philosophy, a significance the importance of which is equal to, or perhaps even greater than, the earlier encounter between Greek philosophy and Christianity. And this significance will presumably only increase with time.
Translated from the Japanese by Robert Chapeskie and revised by John W. M. Krummel.
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- 1.
Shimomura Toratarō, “Nihon no kindaika ni okeru tetsugaku ni tsuite” [「日本の近代化における哲学について」 “On Philosophy in the Modernization of Japan”], Shimomura Toratarō chosakushū [『下村寅太郎著作集』 Collected Writings of Shimomura Toratarō] Vol. 3, Misuzu Shobō, 1990, p. 537.
- 2.
Regarding Nishida Kitarō’s and Miki Kiyoshi’s approach to technology, see my Nishida Kitarō – sono shisō to gendai [『西田幾多郎 ― その思想と現代』 Nishida Kitarō: His Thought and Today], Minerva Shobō, 1995, pp. 170–175; and “Nishida Kitarō to Miki Kiyoshi” [「西田幾多郎と三木清」 “Nishida Kitarō and Miki Kiyoshi”] in Nishida Kitarō o meguru tetsugakusha gunzō [『西田幾多郎をめぐる哲学者群像』 The Group of Philosophers Surrounding Nishida Kitarō], Minerva Shobō, 1997, pp. 233–238.
- 3.
Shimomura Toratarō, “Kindai no chōkoku no hōkō [「近代の超克の方向」 “The Course of Overcoming Modernity”], Kawakami Tetsutarō and Takeuchi Yoshimi eds., Kindai no chōkoku [『近代の超克』 Overcoming Modernity], Fuzanbō hyakkabunko 23, p. 113.
- 4.
See Yasuda Yojūrō, “Bunmei kaika no ronri no shūen [「文明開化の論理の終焉」 “The End of the Logic of Civilization and Enlightenment”] (Yasuda Yojūrō zenshū [『保田与重郎全集』Complete Works of Yasuda Yojūrō], Kōdansha, 1985–1989, Vol. 7), pp. 11–21.
- 5.
For example, see the series of round-table discussions between Kōsaka Masaaki, Nishitani Keiji, Kōyama Iwao, and Suzuki Shigetaka published in Chūōkōron [『中央公論』 Central Review]. These round-table discussions were published in book form as Sekaishiteki tachiba to nihon [『世界史的立場と日本』 The World-Historical Standpoint and Japan], Chūōkōronsha, 1943.
- 6.
See my “Sensō to tetsugakusha – kindai nihon tetsugaku no unmei” [「戦争と哲学者 ― 近代日本哲学の運命」 “War and Philosophers: the Destiny of Modern Japanese Philosophy”] (Kenkyū kiyō [『研究紀要』 Research Bulletin] (Nihon daigaku keizaigaku kenkyū kai [日本大学経済学研究会 Nihon University Economics Research Association]), Vol. 30, 2000).
- 7.
Nishida Kitarō, Nihon bunka no mondai [『日本文化の問題』 The Problem of Japanese Culture] (Nishida Kitarō zenshū [西田幾多郎全集 Complete Works of Nishida Kitarō], Iwanami Shoten, Vol. 12) pp. 345–346.
- 8.
Ibid., p. 289.
- 9.
Ibid., p. 380.
- 10.
Ibid., p. 341.
- 11.
Kuno Osamu, “Kōki” [「後記」; “Postscript”] (Miki Kiyoshi zenshū [『三木清全集』 Complete Works of Miki Kiyoshi]) Iwanami Shoten, Vol. 14).
- 12.
Tanabe himself acknowledges that the logic of species, contrary to its original intention, possessed a tendency to absolutize the nation and assimilate into it the individual’s freedom. Shu no ronri no benshōhō [『種の論理の弁証法』 The Dialectic of the Logic of Species] (Tanabe Hajime Zenshū [『田辺元全集』 Complete Works of Tanabe Hajime], Chikuma shobō, Vol. 7) p. 253.
- 13.
Tanabe Hajime, Zangedō toshite no tetsugaku [『懺悔道としての哲学』 Philosophy as Metanoetics] (Zenshū [『全集』 Complete Works] Vol. 9), p. 3.
- 14.
Ibid., p. 4.
- 15.
Tanabe Hajime, Shu no ronri no benshōhō [『種の論理の弁証法』 The Dialectic of the Logic of Species] (Zenshū [『全集』 Complete Works] Vol. 7), p. 259.
- 16.
See Tanabe Hajime, Zangedō toshite no tetsugaku [『懺悔道としての哲学』 Philosophy as Metanoetics] (Zenshū [『全集』 Complete Works] Vol. 9) pp. 8–9.
- 17.
See Nishitani Keiji, “Tanabe tetsugaku ni tsuite [「田辺哲学について」 “On the Philosophy of Tanabe”] (in Nishitani Keiji chosakushū [『西谷啓治著作集』 Collected Writings of Nishitani Keiji], vol. 9), and Tsujimura Kōichi, “Tanabe tetsugaku ni tsuite [「田辺哲学について」 “On the Philosophy of Tanabe”] (in Tanabe Hajime [『田辺元』], Gendai nihon shisō taikei [『現代日本思想大系』 Systems of Contemporary Japanese Thought] Vol. 23, Chikuma Shobō).
- 18.
Kawakami Tetsutarō and Takeuchi Yoshimi eds., Kindai no chōkoku [『近代の超克』 Overcoming Modernity], Toyamabō hyakkabunko 23, p. 171.
- 19.
Takeuchi Yoshimi, “Kindai no chōkoku” [「近代の超克」; “Overcoming Modernity”] Nihon to Ajia [『日本とアジア』 Japan and Asia], Chikuma Gakugeibunko) p. 162.
- 20.
See Kuno Osamu, “Kōki” [「後記」 “Postscript”] (Miki Kiyoshi Zenshū [『三木清全集』 Complete Works of Miki Kiyoshi], Vol. 14). See also Masuda Keizaburō, “Kōki” [「後記」 “Postscript”] (Vol. 17).
- 21.
Concerning the circumstances of the establishment of the Shōwa Kenkyū-kai and the content of its activities, see Sakai Saburō, Shōwa kenkyūkai—aru chishikijin shūdan no kiseki [『昭和研究会 ― ある知識人集団の軌跡』 The Showa Research Association: Traces of a Group of Intellectuals] (TBS Buritanika, 1979)] for the details.
- 22.
See Miki Kiyoshi, “Shin nihon no shisō genri” [「新日本の思想原理」 “Principles of Thought for a New Japan”] (Zenshū [『全集』 Complete Works], Vol. 17) pp. 507–513.
- 23.
Miki Kiyoshi, “Shin nihon no shisō genri zokuhen” [「新日本の思想原理 続編」 “Principles of Thought for a New Japan, Second Part”] (Zenshū [『全集』 Complete Works], Vol. 17) pp. 582–583.
- 24.
Miki Kiyoshi, Tetsugaku nyūmon [『哲学入門』 Introduction to Philosophy] (Zenshū [『全集』 Complete Works], Vol. 7) pp. 114–115.
- 25.
See my Nishida Kitarō o meguru tetsugakusha gunzō [『西田幾多郎をめぐる哲学者群像』 The Group of Philosophers Surrounding Nishida Kitarō], Minerva Shobō, 1997, pp. 223–225, 233–235.
- 26.
See Aihara Shinsaku, “Sensei ni yotte yokensareta nihonminzoku no unmei” [「先生によって予見された日本民族の運命」 “The fate of the Japanese People as Predicted by Sensei [my teacher]”] (in Nishida sunshin sensei hen’ei [『西田寸心先生片影』 A Glimpse of Professor Nishida Sunshin], Reimei Shobō, 1949), and my “Sensō to tetsugakusha – kindai nihon tetsugaku no unmei [「戦争と哲学者 ― 近代日本哲学の運命」 “War and Philosophers: the Destiny of Modern Japanese Philosophy”].
- 27.
See Miki Kiyoshi, “Senji ninshiki no kichō [「戦時認識の基調」 “The Fundamental Tone of Wartime Consciousness”] (Zenshū [『全集』 Complete Works], Vol. 15) pp. 459–477.
- 28.
Kōsaka Masaaki, Nishitani Keiji, Kōyama Iwao, and Suzuki Shigetaka, Sekaishiteki tachiba to nihon [『世界史的立場と日本』 The World Historical Standpoint and Japan], Chūōkōronsha, 1943, p. 6.
- 29.
Ibid., p. 139.
- 30.
“Philosophy of world history” is a general term for philosophy that deals with the fundamental concept of world history that first became a reality in contemporary times. It was advocated by members of the Kyoto School such as Kōsaka Masaaki, Kōyama Iwao, and Nishitani Keiji.
Kōsaka Masaaki, Minzoku no tetsugaku [『民族の哲学』 Philosophy of Ethnos] (Iwanami Shoten, 1942), Rekishi tetsugaku josetsu [『歴史哲学序説』 Introduction to the Philosophy of History] (Iwanami Shoten, 1943).
Kōyama Iwao, Sekaishi no tetsugaku [『世界史の哲学』 Philosophy of World History] (Iwanami Shoten, 1942), Nihon no kadai to sekaishi [『日本の課題と世界史』 The Task of Japan and World History] (Kōbundō, 1943).
Nishitani Keiji, Sekaikan to kokkakan [『世界観と国家観』 View of the world and View of the State] (Kōbundō, 1941), “Sekaishi no tetsugaku” [「世界史の哲学」 “Philosophy of World History”] (Sekaishi no riron [『世界史の理論』 A Theory of World History], Kōbundō, 1944).
- 31.
Kōyama Iwao, “Sekaishi no rinen” [「世界史の理念」 “The Concept of world history”], Risō [『理想』 Ideals], Vol. 217, June 1951.
- 32.
See my “Kōyama Iwao to tokoro no rinri” [「高山岩男と所の倫理」 “Kōyama Iwao and the Ethics of Place”] (in Kindai nihon ni okeru rinri kyōiku kenkyū [『近代日本における倫理教育研究』 Studies of Ethical Education in Modern Japan], Nihondaigaku Kyōiku Seido Kenkyūjo, 2000).
- 33.
See my “Sensō to tetsugakusha – kindai nihon tetsugaku no unmei” [「戦争と哲学者 ― 近代日本哲学の運命」 “War and Philosophers: the Destiny of Modern Japanese Philosophy]”.
- 34.
Takeuchi Yoshimi, op. cit., p. 162.
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Kosaka, K. (2018). The Kyoto School and the Issue of “Overcoming Modernity”. In: Fujita, M. (eds) The Philosophy of the Kyoto School. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-8983-1_17
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