History of Modern Japanese Philosophy

Masakatsu Fujita is Professor Emeritus at Kyoto University. He is the author or editor of several books, including The Philosophy of the Kyoto School. Robert Chapeskie is a translator, writer, and editor specializing in philosophy and East Asian studies.

"There is nothing like this excellent book in English or any other non-Japanese language. The scope and depth of the contents are unprecedented in Western languages and probably unequaled, even in Japan. It will make an enormous contribution to the burgeoning field of Japanese philosophy." — John C. Maraldo, University of North Florida

• Translator's NoteIntroduction: Japanese "Philosophy" and the "History of Philosophy" in Japan 1. How Should We View "Philosophy"? (1) What Is Philosophy? (2) Is There Such a Thing as the "Core of Philosophy"? (3) Can Intellectual Undertakings Prior to the Meiji Period Be Called "Philosophy"? 2. What Is the History of Philosophy? (1) The Reception of the History of Philosophy in Japan (2) What Is the History of Philosophy? (3) The Methodology of the History of Philosophy Part I The Era of Reception from the West— Philosophy of the Meiji Period Chapter 1: Early Meiji Philosophy 1. Early History of the Reception of Philosophy (1) The First "Philosophy" Course in Japan (2) The People Who Encountered Philosophy (3) The Translation of the Word "Philosophy" (4) "Philosophy" as Something Distinct from Confucianism 2. The Reception of Philosophy by Nishi Amane (1) Dividing Meiji Philosophy into Periods (2) Nishi Amane's Studies in the Netherlands (3) Western Academic Inquiry as an "Intellectual System" (4) A Focus on Positive Knowledge and Induction 3. Fukuzawa Yukichi and Modern Japanese Academic Inquiry (1) The Meiji 6 Society (Meirokusha) (2) Fukuzawa Yukichi and the Task of Becoming "Civilized" (3) Wide-Ranging Debate and a Skeptical Spirit (4) Changes in Academic Inquiry (5) Nishimura Shigeki's Theory of Morality 4. Nakae Chōmin—Philosophy as "the Study of Principles [Rigaku]" (1) Nakae Chōmin's View of Academic Inquiry (2) Nakae and Rousseau (3) Nakaeism Chapter 2: Philosophy Within the University System (Academic Philosophy) 1. Fenollosa's Philosophy Courses at the University of Tokyo (1) Establishment of the University of Tokyo and Its Faculty of Letters (2) Fenollosa and Spencerian Philosophy (3) Fenollosa's German Philosophy Course 2. The Identity of Phenomenon and Reality—The Philosophy of Inoue Tetsujirō and Inoue Enryō (1) Inoue Tetsujirō's "Philosophy of Phenomenon-Reality Identity" (2) Inoue Enryō's "Philosophy of Phenomenon-Reality Identity" 3. The Reception of Philosophy Through Writings on the History of Philosophy—Miyake Setsurei and Kiyozawa Manshi (1) Miyake Setsurei's Philosophical Trifles (2) Kiyozawa Manshi's Lectures on the History of Western Philosophy and the Reception of Hegel's Dialectic (3) Kiyozawa Manshi's Philosophy of Religion 4. The Formation of Critical/Rational Thought—Ōnishi Hajime and Kanō Kōkichi (1) The Study of Logic in the Meiji Period (2) Ōnishi Hajime's Critical Philosophy (3) Kanō Kōkichi's Ethics and Philosophy of History 5. Fenollosa and Okakura Tenshin's Understanding of Aesthetics and Art History (1) Fenollosa's True "Theory of Art" (2) Okakura Tenshin's Views on Art 6. The Contribution of Ludwig Busse and Raphael von Koeber to the Study of Philosophy in Japan (1) The Reception of German Philosophy (2) Koeber as an Educator Chapter 3: Awareness of the Individual and Interest in the State and Society in the Mid and Late Meiji Periods 1. Reflection on the March Toward Modernization (1) The State of Thought from the Mid-to-Late Meiji Period (2) Tokutomi Sohō's "Commonerism" (3) Shiga Shigetaka and Miyake Setsurei's Japanese Nationalism (4) Kuga Katsunan's Conception of Nationalism (Kokuminshugi) (5) From Nationalism to Imperialism (6) Okakura Tenshin's "East" 2. Awareness of the Individual (1) Kitamura Tōkoku's "Theory of Inner Life" (2) The "Personal Cultivation" Movement (3) Spiritualism (4) Tsunashima Ryōsen (5) Uchimura Kanzō's Individualism 3. Looking Toward Peace and Social Paradoxes (1) The Early Socialist Movement Tied to Christianity (2) Kōtoku Shūsui's Socialism(3) Interest in Peace Part II The Era of Formation—The Philosophy of the Taishō and Early Shōwa Periods Chapter 4: Thought in the Taishō and Early Shōwa Periods 1. The Taishō Period (1) Culture and Cultivation (2) T. H. Green's Theory of Personal Realization (3) Abe Jirō's Personality-ism (4) Cultivationism (5) Culturism (6) Kantian and Neo-Kantian Studies (7) The Philosophy of Life / Pragmatism (8) Taishō Democracy (9) Marxism (10) The Influence of Japanese Philosophy (Thought) on China 2. Thought in the Early Shōwa Era (1) 1920s Europe (2) The Neo-Kantian School (3) Phenomenology (4) Heidegger's Philosophy (5) Philosophical Anthropology (6) The Influence of Marxism (7) The 1930s Chapter 5: The Philosophies of Nishida and Tanabe 1. Nishida Kitarō's Early Period (1) The Conceptual Foundation of Nishida's Philosophy (2) The Philosophy of "Pure Experience" (3) Place 2. The Formation of Tanabe Hajime's Thought and His Critique of Nishida's Philosophy 185 (1) From the Study of the Philosophy of Mathematics and Science to the Study of Kant and Hegel (2) The Study of Hegel's Philosophy and Critique of Nishida's Philosophy 3. The Philosophy of Nishida's Late Period (1) Nishida and Tanabe's Interest in History and the Real World (2) The Reception of Hegel's Dialectic (3) The Dialectical Universal (4) Absolutely Contradictory Self-Identity (5) Action-Intuition (6) Nishida's Religious Thought at the End of His Life 4. Tanabe Hajime's "Logic of Species" (1) Toward the Formation of the "Logic of Species" (2) The Practical Motivation Behind the "Logic of Species" (3) The Logical Motivation Behind the "Logic of Species" (4) What Is the "Logic of Species"? (5) The "Logic of Species" and Tanabe's Critique of Nishida's Philosophy (6) The Positioning of "Species" in Nishida's Philosophy (7) The Question of the State Chapter 6: Various Developments in Philosophy in the Era of Nishida and Tanabe 1. Takahashi Satomi (1) Initial Critique of Nishida's Philosophy (2) The Philosophy of "Enveloping Totality" (3) Second Critique of Nishida's Philosophy 2. Kuki Shūzō (1) The Development of Kuki's Thought (2) Kuki's Theory of "Time" (3) The Structure of Iki (4) The Philosophy of Contingency (5) Concerning Poetry and Rhyme 3. Watsuji Tetsurō (1) The Development of Watsuji's Thought (2) Climate (3) The Ethics of "Relationships" (4) Criticism of Watsuji's Ethics 4. The Development of the Study of Aesthetics (1) The Development of the Study of Aesthetics in Japan (2) Ōnishi Yoshinori (3) The Reception of Konrad Fiedler's Aesthetics (4) Ueda Jyuzō's Studies in Aesthetics and Art History (5) The Beauty of Handicrafts 5. The Philosophy of Religion (1) Hatano Seiichi's Philosophy of Religion (2) Suzuki Daisetsu's "Logic of Is/Not" Chapter 7: The Disciples of Nishida and Tanabe 1. The Zen Tradition—Hisamatsu Shin'ichi and Nishitani Keiji (1) Hisamatsu Shin'ichi (2) Nishitani Keiji 2. Phenomenology, the Philosophy of History, and the Theory of Social Existence—Yamauchi Tokuryū, Kōsaka Masaaki, and Mutai Risaku (1) Yamauchi Tokuryū's "Logic of Analogia" (2) Kōsaka Masaaki's Philosophy of History (3) Mutai Risaku's "On Social Existence" (4) The Establishment of the Study of Philosophy at Taihoku Imperial University 3. The Logic of Imagination—Miki Kiyoshi 4. Encounters with Marxism—Tosaka Jun and Kakehashi Akihide (1) Tosaka Jun's "Scientific Spirit" (2) Kakehashi Akihide's "Total Natural History Process" 5. Development in Diverse Fields—Kimura Motonori, Kōyama Iwao, Tsuchida Kyōson, and Shimomura Toratarō (1) Kimura Motonori's Theory of the Body/Expression (2) Kōyama Iwao's "Philosophy of World History" (3) Tsuchida Kyōson (4) Mathematics as "Spiritual History"— Shimomura Toratarō Chapter 8: The Kyoto School 21. What Was/Is the Kyoto School? (1) Establishment of the Name "Kyoto School" (2) What Was/Is the "Kyoto School"? (3) The "Kyoto School" as an Intellectual Network (4) The Philosophy of "Nothingness" 2. Overcoming Modernity (1) The Critiques of the "Overcoming Modernity" and "Japan and the Perspective of World History" Symposia (2) A Symposium that Became a Free-for-All Discussion (3) "Modernity" as the Self and "Modernity" as the Other (4) Shimomura Toratarō's "Modernity" (5) What Came Out of the "Overcoming Modernity" Symposium Part III The Period of Development—Postwar Philosophy Chapter 9: Starting from Defeat 1. The Issues of "Modernity" and "Subjectivity" (1) Immature Modernity (2) Criticism of "Modernism" (3) The Subjectivity Debate (4) Takeuchi Yoshimi's Critique of Modernism 2. Toward the Realization of Peace (1) Efforts Toward the Realization of Peace (2) Thought Concerning Peace 3. New Perspectives in the Postwar Era (1) An Era of Popularization (2) The Perspective of Citizens Living Ordinary Lives Chapter 10: The Postwar Kyoto School 1. The Development of Tanabe's Philosophy (1) Critique of the Kyoto School (2) Tanabe Hajime's "Philosophy as the Way of Repentance (Metanoetics)" (3) The Philosophy of Death 2. The Development of the Philosophy of Nothingness (Emptiness) (1) Hisamatsu Shin'ichi's "Atheism" (2) Nishitani Keiji (3) Ueda Shizuteru (4) The Spread of the Philosophy of "Nothingness" 3. The Diverse Development of the Kyoto School (1) Nishida's Disciples (2) Tanabe's Disciples (3) Thought Related to the Kyoto School— Nakai Masakazu, Hayashi Tatsuo, Hanada Kiyoteru, and Suzuki Tōru (4) Expansion Beyond Philosophy Chapter 11: The Diverse Development of Postwar Japanese Philosophy 1. Being and Knowledge (1) Being and Cognition (2) Mono and Koto (3) Reality and Actuality (4) Phenomenology 2. The Self and the Other (1) The Reception of Existentialism (2) Real Existence and Empty Existence—The "I" and the Self (3) The Self and the Other (4) Relationships and the Binomial Relationship of "I" and "You" (5) Roles and Masks 3. Language (1) Experience and Language (2) The Creativity of Language (3) The Dynamism of Language—Surface Structure and Deep Structure (4) Translation 4. Looking at the Body (1) What Is the Body? (2) Sensus Communis, Pathetic (Emotional) Knowledge, and Clinical Knowledge (3) Eastern Theories of the Body (4) Bioethics and Environmental Ethics 5. The Perspective of Comparison (1) Nakamura Hajime's Attempt at an "Intellectual History of the World" (2) Izutsu Toshihiko's "Synchronic Structuring" of Eastern Thought (3) The Possibility of the Study of Comparative Philosophy (Thought) AfterwordPostscript to the English Version Notes Bibliography Index