"The Logic of Locus" and the Concept of Sin in Nishida Kitaro : In Relation to Kierkegaard

Abstract

Nishida Kitaro's philosophy is closely tied to matters of "religion." One of the essential elements in his understanding of "religion" is the problem of sin. From an early period in his career he was interested in this problem, referring to the teaching of original sin in Christianity as well as in the works of Shinran, the founder of the Shin school of Pure Land Buddhism. Nishida's thought on sin was neither on the problem of a specific sect nor on a moral problem but on a fundamental and ontological problem concerning the self living in this world. In this paper I will discuss Nishida's philosophical understanding of sin with regards to his sympathy toward Kierkegaard's view, and in relation to the conception of self and that of religion, which are based on his ontology named "the logic of locus." The ontological structure of self is expressed as the paradoxical identity between necessity and freedom. Nishida's concept of sin is the disharmony of this paradoxical self-identity; the important elements are objective self-consciousness and will. Nishida discussed the authentic self as an antonym of sin. The authentic self is the unification between necessity and freedom. Nishida's concept of sin and that of religion, therefore, are closely related.