Kyoto School Philosophy in Comparative Perspective: Ideology, Ontology, Modernity

by Bernard Stevens

Overview

This book presents the thought of the Kyoto School in comparison with continental philosophers better known in the West and addresses the affiliation of some of its members with the militarism of the 1930s and 1940s.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781666920482
Publisher:	Lexington Books
Publication date:	01/31/2023
Pages:	182
Product dimensions:	6.32(w) x 9.14(h) x 0.78(d)

About the Author

Bernard Stevens is emeritus professor at the Catholic University of Louvain.

Table of Contents

Introduction Chapter 1: A Few Observations on Maruyama Masao Chapter 2: Arendt and Maruyama: Two Complementary Approaches to Totalitarianism Chapter 3: Modernity and Its Overcoming Chapter 4: Political Engagement and Political Judgment in the Thought of Nishitani Keiji Chapter 5: The Dimensions of Time Reflected in the Thought of Nishitani Keiji Chapter 6: Reflections on the Notion of Reality in the Thought of Nishida and Nishitani Chapter 7: Nishida Kitarō and Michel Henry: Philosophers of Life Chapter 8: Self in Space: Nishida, Merleau-Ponty and Michel Henry Chapter 9: The Intercultural and Daseinsanalytical Psychiatry of Kimura Bin Conclusion: The Pine Tree

Editorial Reviews

Masterfully written by a renowned philosopher trained in the European phenomenological-hermeneutic tradition and a pioneer in the intercultural practice of philosophy, this book perfectly fulfills its two main aims: to clarify the ideological controversy surrounding the Kyoto School and to interpret the contributions to philosophy of its main figures alongside others more familiar to Western readers, such as those of Husserl, Heidegger, Arendt, Merleau-Ponty, Ricoeur and Michel Henry. Beyond the interest that Japanese intellectual history may arouse in the reader, this work will captivate anyone who raises philosophical questions, since such long-standing discussions on modernity or totalitarianism and topics as life, time, the body, space, or reality acquire a new light in the fascinating dialogue that Stevens engages in, moving with ease between Asian and Western thought. This volume will undoubtedly be a reference work not only for the understanding of the philosophy of Nishida, Nishitani, Watsuji, or Kimura Bin, but also to generate new studies by the new lines of research it opens.

Raquel Bouso

Students and scholars of modern Japanese philosophy will enthusiastically welcome – and greatly benefit from reading – this collection of comparative essays on the Kyoto School philosophers Nishida Kitarō and Nishitani Keiji, the political theorist Maruyama Masao, and the psychiatrist Kimura Bin. By bringing the ideas of these leading twentieth-century Japanese thinkers into critical dialogue with those of their contemporary European philosophers such as Hannah Arendt, Marice Merleau-Ponty, and Michel Henry, Bernard Stevens manages to shed new light on key issues in metaphysics and existential phenomenology as well as in political philosophy.

Bret W. Davis