A Field of Experience

Thoughts on the Body in A Study of the Good and “Form of the Historical Body” in Nishidaʼs Later Philosophy

Abstract

The idea of body should be included in the set of concepts that the early Nishida developed through the notion of “one field of experience.” His later philosophy also sees the self as “one field” of mutual interactions, which signifies collaborations of free individuals that constitute the real world. What Nishida lays out as his philosophical standpoint in The Study of the Good, which regards the unique, original, and creative activity of the “one field/place of experience” as the true reality, fundamentally remains the same throughout his oeuvre. His mature works, however, emphasizes that this creative activity is that which denies and remakes existing reality. Nishida calls this “historical production,” in relation to which he further developed his insight into the notion of the “body.” He argues that the body is the center of gravity in the productive process, where various moments express themselves through their mutual collaborations. This communal “form” of embodied self or the “historical body” is also understood in terms of “society.” A collaboration between self and other is realized through the negation of their mutual desire to control others. Only then, the self can truly be what it is (in relation with the other). Nishidaʼs philosophy of body, thus, shows that our own body expresses, both by itself and beyond, the impossibility of autonomously controlling oneself and others.