Abstract
This concept pure experience used in Kitaro Nishida's philosophy is interpreted in two ways. One is that pure experiences mean primitive perceptions or senses yet to be reflected, the other is that they cover all experiences including sentiment, reflections and wills. Not a few scholars insist that only primitive perceptions are true pure experience. Based on the following reasons, however, Nishida's pure experience should be considered all experiences in our daily lives.
(1) In Nishida's idea, which is a kind of pantheism, all entities are phenomena taking place in God's consciousness. Everything is in God, so there is nothing outside of God. That means God's consciousness is a pure experience, because His experience doesn't have the dichotomic structure of inner subjects and outer objects. Every personal experience is a limited area in the pure experience of God, therefore, all experiences are, without exception, pure experiences. (2) A primitive perception or sense is a pure experience, because it is not yet reflected. Then a reflection itself is a pure experience, too, because it is not yet reflected. Therefore every experience, so long as it is grasped as a whole. Parts in the content within a consciousness, which are objects of reflections, can be considered not pure experience.
