Abstract
Scince Nishida's thought is greatly affected by his
practice of Zen Buddism, some people often regerd
him as a speculative metaphysician. This way of
looking contains some truth, but it fails the very important point to see. In this article insist that the
essential intention of Nisida's philosophycal work is
oriented toward the concrete reality of the world.
By Nishida, the world of concrete reality is the historical-social world, in which we act, live and die.
That's why the idea of life is frequently mentioned
in his late works. Life represents the concretness of
the world. Nishida argues that real social facts such
as folks or nations must be treated as life. On the
analogy of J. S. Haldane's physiology, Nishida insists that the species should be considered as self of the maintaining subject in the historical-social world.
Being inspired by Haldane's holistic conception of
life, Nishida conceptualizes the historical-social species, whose ideal form (paradeigma) is embodied in
social acts. But there is a serious misunderstanding
in Nishida's argument. Biologically, self-maintaining
function cannot be found in species, but in a concrete, individual organism. My conclusion is that
Nishida contradicts himself because of this inappropriate interpretation of Haldane's concept of life.
