Journal of Nishida Philosophy Association
Online ISSN : 2434-2270
Print ISSN : 2188-1995
Current issue
Displaying 1-12 of 12 articles from this issue
  • Reconsidering the “Problem of Japanese Culture”
    Tadashi NISHIHIRA
    2022 Volume 19 Pages 1-16
    Published: 2022
    Released on J-STAGE: March 28, 2024
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Nishida sought to elaborate a ‘Logic of the Eastern Weltanschauung.’ This paper examines this core project with reference to his essay The Problem of Japanese Culture, a text which was published under the special circumstances of wartime Japan. What was Nishida for – and what was he against – when he wrote about Japanese culture? Herein, we find that in discussing Eastern Logic in The Problem of Japanese Culture, Nishida actually sought to emphasize the ‘universality’ of this logic, as opposed to the nationalistic intellectual projects of his era. At the same time, Nishida was skeptical of the general concept of ‘cosmopolitanism’ which would neglect the particularity or diversity of different cultures. This attempt to take account of both sides – universality/particularity – is one central aspect of the later period of Nishida’s philosophy. Nevertheless, the text Problem of Japanese Culture is not well-balanced: it overemphasizes the universality of the Eastern logic, at the cost of particularity. In conclusion, this article points out the necessity to pay equal attention to the particularity of Eastern logic itself.
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  • or the Relation between Philosophy and Religion
    Seizō SEKINE
    2022 Volume 19 Pages 17-42
    Published: 2022
    Released on J-STAGE: March 28, 2024
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Nishida Kitarō and Uchimura Kanzō are considered two giants of modern Japanese philosophy and religion. The purpose of this paper is to show that these two men, who never actually encountered or even mentioned each other in their writings, nevertheless had many points in common. It is possible to establish a personal and philosophical resonance between the two authors in the following aspects: 1) the painful experience of the death of their beloved daughter, 2) the philosophical investigation of the concept of God, including Pantheism and Panentheism, and 3) the religious analysis of the Aqedah text of Genesis 22. Finally, I would like to show that 4) Nishida and Uchimura resonate with each other in their penetrating understanding that philosophy and religion, while independent of each other, must form a complementary tension that compensates their limitations.
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  • Can Locational Logic provide a New Perspective on Care?
    Hiroshi ASAMI
    2022 Volume 19 Pages 43-57
    Published: 2022
    Released on J-STAGE: March 28, 2024
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Terminal care has recently come to be known as end-of-life care. The policy objectives behind the name change are (1) constructing a community-based integrated care system and (2) spreading advanced care planning (ACP), such as end-of-life family meetings. However, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, medical care is focused on responding to global health challenges that transcend individuals, families, and communities. Furthermore, adequate ACP has become difficult because of the pandemic, given the difficulties in infection management.   Such uncertainty in end-of-life care shows that life and death are situated in a historical world that cannot help but be constrained by the events that arise therein. However, amidst all this, nurses continue to explore and create new end-of-life care strategies based on current infection management policies. For nurses trying to forge a new path forward despite the uncertainty they face, Nishida’s philosophy of place could offer some new perspective, since it regards human existence as socio-historical and as an element of the creative world.
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  • Nishida’s Theory of Care
    Hirokazu TANGI
    2022 Volume 19 Pages 58-77
    Published: 2022
    Released on J-STAGE: March 28, 2024
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Although it is the human condition to be taken care of by others, to care for them, it is inevitable that we face certain difficulties. On the one hand, such care can allow close contact with others, while, on the other hand, it can increase the risk of uncomfortable situations or even violence. Because of such complicated aspects providing(or receiving)care should be considered one of basic issues of philosophy.   The Japanese Philosopher Kitarō Nishida classified the fundamental types of the “self-understanding” into the “acting self” and the “known self.” However, he rejected the “known self” and prescribed the “acting self” as the true self. Meanwhile, most discussions on the difficulties of providing (or receiving)care have their basis in the viewpoint of the “known self”. Although this perspective objectively focuses on such problems and how to cope with them, it can be seen quite differently when researched from the viewpoint of the “acting self.”   Thus, the purpose of this study is two-fold. First, it explains the original significance of the “acting self” considering a concrete instance of care. Second, this article suggests new possibilities for how such care can be provided(or received)by researching its structure from the perspective of the “acting self.” Consequently, Nishida's thought can help us question how we can become good caregivers.
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  • Focusing on Nishida’s Criticism of Tanabe in 1944 and Tanabe’s Philosophy as Metanoetics
    Naizhen HOU
    2022 Volume 19 Pages 78-90
    Published: 2022
    Released on J-STAGE: March 28, 2024
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Nishida Kitarō lashed out at Tanabe Hajime’s Metanoetics with the term “jiriki”( 自 力 ) in his letter to Mutai Risaku on December 21 and 22, 1944. Tanabe also argued that the “active intuition” in Nishida’s philosophy is “sage’s proposition of jiriki” in his Philosophy as Metanoetics (1946), and proposed a Metanoetics that should abandon “jiriki”. In other words, both Nishida and Tanabe criticized the other’s philosophy as “jiriki” while opposing “jiriki”. Based on the criticism of Tanabe posed by Nishida in his letter in 1944 and Tanabe’s reflections on “radical evil” in Philosophy as Metanoetics, this paper has identified the consciousness of “jiriki” shared by Nishida and Tanabe in their later years.   Firstly, this paper identifies “jiriki” as the main point of Nishida's criticism of Tanabe according to the letter written in 1944. To put it simply, the “jiriki” in Nishida’s eyes is a position that implicitly objectified the self without self-questioning. Secondly, the paper reveals Tanabe’s reflections on “radical evil” in Philosophy as Metanoetics based on the observation of Nishida’s criticism of Tanabe, and particularly argues that “radical evil”, as a tendency to “forget the relativity of self and take pride in oneself as an absolutized individual”, is characterized in that it cannot be eliminated by one’s own efforts. Finally, by summarizing Nishida and Tanabe’s understanding of “jiriki” and “radical evil”, this paper identifies Nishida’s and Tanabe’s understanding of the self.
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  • The Theory of Time in Nishida Kitarōʼs Later Philosophy
    Wataru SANADA
    2022 Volume 19 Pages 91-106
    Published: 2022
    Released on J-STAGE: March 28, 2024
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    The purpose of this paper is to clarify and build upon the basic structure of the theory of time presented in Nishida Kitarōʼs later philosophy. Nishida discusses various themes - such as others, society, body, and history - in relation to his theory of time. Therefore, in order to see and understand the whole picture presented in Nishidaʼs later philosophy, it is important to reveal the basic structure of his theory of time. Nishida describes the structure of time with the phrases “the present faces the past and the future simultaneously,” “the present faces the eternal now,” and “what denies the present exists at the present moment.” This paper attempts to clarify what these phrases mean. The focus point of this paper is the relationship between the concept of “active intuition” and the flow of time. Nishida creates the concept of “active intuition” in order to clarify the mutual action which exists between the world and the self. Nishida defines “active intuition” as the superposition of our activeness and passiveness. Nishida connects this superposition with the structure of time and builds up his unique theory thereof. This paper reveals that “active intuition” enables the emergence of our normal experience of the flow of time.
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  • Shun YAMAMOTO
    2022 Volume 19 Pages 107-123
    Published: 2022
    Released on J-STAGE: March 28, 2024
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    This paper considers the early philosophy of mathematics of Tanabe Hajime (1885-1962). Tanabe began his philosophical studies with an interest in the foundation of mathematics. He obtained a Ph.D. in 1918 and published his dissertation titled An Inquiry into the Philosophy of Mathematics (1925). Although this fact is well known in general, there is very little research on his early philosophy of mathematics and thus the contents and importance of this work have not been fully appreciated. This paper examines Tanabe’s early works on mathematics from the perspective of Nishida Kitarō, who was Tanabe’s Ph.D. supervisor. Tanabe was specially interested in Nishida’s concepts of “intuition” and “reflection”, and established the foundation of mathematics through his theory of genetic cognition, that was organized logically according to mathematical rationality. Section one situates and introduces Tanabe’s early philosophy. Section two provides an overview of the problem of genetic cognition and the generation of numbers. Section three examines how Tanabe establishes the foundation for natural numbers and then considers the significance of Tanabe’s philosophy from the perspective of intuition and reflection. Section four focuses on Tanabe’s theory of real numbers in his text “Continuous, Differential and Infinite” (1916). Here, I argue that the transcendental meaning of irrational numbers could be understood as “intuition”.
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  • Keiichi NOE
    2024 Volume 19 Pages 124-128
    Published: 2024
    Released on J-STAGE: March 28, 2024
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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  • Kyubun TANAKA
    2022 Volume 19 Pages 129-132
    Published: 2022
    Released on J-STAGE: March 28, 2024
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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  • Yujin ITABASHI
    2022 Volume 19 Pages 133-137
    Published: 2022
    Released on J-STAGE: March 28, 2024
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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  • Yosuke TAKEHANA
    2022 Volume 19 Pages 138-142
    Published: 2022
    Released on J-STAGE: March 28, 2024
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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  • Takayoshi IIZHIMA
    2022 Volume 19 Pages 143-146
    Published: 2022
    Released on J-STAGE: March 28, 2024
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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