Abstract
Kitaro Nishida started from the Jamesian concept of “pure
experience,” but he was critical of his pragmatism. On the other hand,
Kiyoshi Miki was generally positive toward pragmatism. Thus,
understanding their relationship with pragmatism can be a key in
appreciating what was at stake in Miki’s attempt to confront and
overcome Nishida’s philosophy critically. However, “pragmatism” has
diverse aspects that cannot be discussed in general terms. Therefore, we
take the path of Shunsuke Tsurumi, who developed his unique ideas and
practices based on pragmatism in postwar Japan, as the axis of reference
for our consideration.
We begin by bringing into light Tsurumi’s criticism, manifested in
the inaugural issue of “The Science of Thought” in 1946, of the optimistic
view of Dewey’s social philosophy. Then, by rearranging and rereading
the relevant texts by Tsurumi and some of the Kyoto School philosophers
such as Risaku Mutai and Masakazu Nakai in addition to Miki, we will
show that some of their ideas and practices were deeply connected with
each other. The trajectories of these philosophers, who struggled with
their times, are imprinted with the bitter experiences of “turning” in life
and thought, and we can recognize some pregnant correspondences and
intersections among them in terms of the realization of human
“recalcitrance” or the duality of human nature, and the search for a “new
humanism” considered all the more necessary because of such
realization. We would like to take up their questions and words anew to
draw a perspective map for our own engagement in the times of war.
https://ror.org/001et4e78 
