James W. Heisig, Thomas P. Kasulis, and John C. Maraldo (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824835521
- eISBN:
- 9780824870270
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824835521.003.0008
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Asian Studies
This section provides an overview of the Kyoto School and its philosophical significance. Kyoto School thought most closely resembles what is termed “speculative philosophy” in the West. Unlike ...
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This section provides an overview of the Kyoto School and its philosophical significance. Kyoto School thought most closely resembles what is termed “speculative philosophy” in the West. Unlike Western speculative philosophy, however, the Kyoto School typically defines any systematic principle of unification in negative terms, indeed in a manner that undermines the notion of a grounding principle. The single feature common to all the thinkers associated with the Kyoto School is their connection to Nishida Kitarō. This section first discusses the history of the Kyoto School before considering five interrelated factors that define its contours within the tradition of Japanese philosophy. It then presents translations of a variety of texts by Japanese philosophers associated with the Kyoto School, including Nishida Kitarō, Tanabe Hajime, Mutai Risaku, Miki Kiyoshi, Nishitani Keiji, Takeuchi Yoshinori, Abe Masao, Ueda Shizuteru, and Ōhashi Ryōsuke.Less
This section provides an overview of the Kyoto School and its philosophical significance. Kyoto School thought most closely resembles what is termed “speculative philosophy” in the West. Unlike Western speculative philosophy, however, the Kyoto School typically defines any systematic principle of unification in negative terms, indeed in a manner that undermines the notion of a grounding principle. The single feature common to all the thinkers associated with the Kyoto School is their connection to Nishida Kitarō. This section first discusses the history of the Kyoto School before considering five interrelated factors that define its contours within the tradition of Japanese philosophy. It then presents translations of a variety of texts by Japanese philosophers associated with the Kyoto School, including Nishida Kitarō, Tanabe Hajime, Mutai Risaku, Miki Kiyoshi, Nishitani Keiji, Takeuchi Yoshinori, Abe Masao, Ueda Shizuteru, and Ōhashi Ryōsuke.
Adam Bronson
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824855338
- eISBN:
- 9780824869120
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824855338.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
After the war, postwar intellectuals forged a negative image of the prewar and wartime years, centered on the elite culture of Imperial Higher Schools, which many of them had attended. During the ...
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After the war, postwar intellectuals forged a negative image of the prewar and wartime years, centered on the elite culture of Imperial Higher Schools, which many of them had attended. During the first quarter of the twentieth century, educators promoted a cosmopolitan ideal of intellectual and moral self-cultivation (kyōyō) as an end in itself, often in protest against the specialized and exam-centric world of the university and the government bureaucracy. These educators and the Japanese and Western thinkers they promoted became intellectual celebrities, with devoted disciples called “philosophical youth.” The popularity of kyōyō persisted during the hardship of war and defeat. Yet many of the new pro-democracy intellectual groups that formed after 1945, including Science of Thought, were hostile toward postwar displays of devotion to prewar thinkers such as Nishida Kitarō. Progressives argued that his work was a sign of the fanaticism and insularity of prewar intellectual culture.Less
After the war, postwar intellectuals forged a negative image of the prewar and wartime years, centered on the elite culture of Imperial Higher Schools, which many of them had attended. During the first quarter of the twentieth century, educators promoted a cosmopolitan ideal of intellectual and moral self-cultivation (kyōyō) as an end in itself, often in protest against the specialized and exam-centric world of the university and the government bureaucracy. These educators and the Japanese and Western thinkers they promoted became intellectual celebrities, with devoted disciples called “philosophical youth.” The popularity of kyōyō persisted during the hardship of war and defeat. Yet many of the new pro-democracy intellectual groups that formed after 1945, including Science of Thought, were hostile toward postwar displays of devotion to prewar thinkers such as Nishida Kitarō. Progressives argued that his work was a sign of the fanaticism and insularity of prewar intellectual culture.
Melissa Anne-Marie Curley
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780824857752
- eISBN:
- 9780824873653
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824857752.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
Following the untimely death in prison of Kyoto School philosopher Miki Kiyoshi, his unfinished essay on Shinran was assembled for publication, serving as a kind of final testament. Early in his ...
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Following the untimely death in prison of Kyoto School philosopher Miki Kiyoshi, his unfinished essay on Shinran was assembled for publication, serving as a kind of final testament. Early in his career, Miki had come into conflict with other Japanese Marxists over his contention that religion could play a positive role in the proletarian revolution. The Shinran essay picks up on this possibility, framing the Pure Land Buddhist view of the Dharma ages in terms of the historical dialectic. According to Miki, Shinran (like Marx) discerned that the trajectory of history points toward the establishment of a truly human society, or a buddha land built upon the earth, in which the full exercise of individual human capacity will be possible for the first time. Miki’s utopianism is complicated by his role in articulating a vision of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, relying on some of the same logic we see in the Shinran essay.Less
Following the untimely death in prison of Kyoto School philosopher Miki Kiyoshi, his unfinished essay on Shinran was assembled for publication, serving as a kind of final testament. Early in his career, Miki had come into conflict with other Japanese Marxists over his contention that religion could play a positive role in the proletarian revolution. The Shinran essay picks up on this possibility, framing the Pure Land Buddhist view of the Dharma ages in terms of the historical dialectic. According to Miki, Shinran (like Marx) discerned that the trajectory of history points toward the establishment of a truly human society, or a buddha land built upon the earth, in which the full exercise of individual human capacity will be possible for the first time. Miki’s utopianism is complicated by his role in articulating a vision of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, relying on some of the same logic we see in the Shinran essay.
