The Kyoto School: An Introduction

Contents

Contents Foreword ix Thomas P. Kasulis A Note to the Reader xix Acknowledgments xxi Introduction 1 A Different Kind of Philosophy • The Buddhist Background • The Kyoto School Chapter One Nishida Kitarō (1870–1945) 13 Background • The Early Years: Education • Pure Experience • A Unifying Power • The Place of Doubt • Becoming the Thing Itself • Absolute Nothingness • On Becoming Enlightened • Self and World • Ethics and Evil • Ethics • Nishida and Mysticism Chapter Two Tanabe Hajime (1885–1962) 61 Life and Work • Metanoetics • Mediation • Mediation and Absolute Mediation • The Logic of the Specific • The Centrality of Ethics • Critique of Reason • • The Ethics of Metanoetics • Society Transformed viii / Contents Chapter Three Nishitani Keiji (1900–1990) 91 Life and Career • Nietzsche and Nihilism • The Ten Ox‑herding Pictures • The Meaning of “Nothingness” • A Way Out • Enlightenment • Relative and Absolute Nothingness • The Self • Selfless Ethics Chapter Four Watsuji Tetsurō (1889–1960) 125 Life and Career • Climate and Culture • Ethics as the Study of Man • Double Negation • The Importance of Relationships • The Confucian Background • In the Betweenness • Kokoro and Aidagara • Watsuji and Nothingness • Back to the Everyday World • The Importance of the Body • Conclusion Chapter Five Conclusion 153 Nishida and Tanabe • Tanabe’s Critique of Nishida • On Original Goodness • Nishitani • Watsuji Glossary 173 Notes 183 Selected Bibliography 201 Index 209 ...