Buddhist and East Asian Philosophy
The Kyoto School and Modern Japanese Philosophy
The twentieth-century project, led by Nishida Kitaro and his successors, that brought Zen Buddhist insight into critical dialogue with Western philosophy.
60-Second Review
Express reviewA condensed, point-by-point summary of the module, for reviewing right before a test or exam.
- Nishida Kitaro and the Logic of Place (Basho). Nishida founded the Kyoto School and built a logic of "place" culminating in absolute nothingness.
- Pure Experience and the Critique of Subject-Object Dualism. Pure experience, borrowed from William James, denies any prior split between knowing subject and known object.
- Nishitani Keiji on Nihilism and Absolute Nothingness. Nishitani argued Zen sunyata lets thought pass through, rather than merely refute, European nihilism.
- Watsuji Tetsuro's Ethics of Betweenness (Aidagara). Watsuji grounded ethics in aidagara, the relational "betweenness" constituting human beings.
- The Kyoto School's Engagement with Heidegger and German Philosophy. Kyoto School philosophers studied directly under Husserl and Heidegger, exchanging ideas in both directions.
- The Kyoto School's Wartime Controversy and Political Legacy. Wartime roundtables lending philosophical language to Japanese expansion left a still-contested legacy.
- Comparative Philosophy: East-West Dialogue after Nishida. Postwar successors like Tanabe and Abe Masao carried Kyoto ideas into sustained dialogue with the West.
- Modern Japanese Philosophy's Influence on Contemporary Thought. Ueda and later scholarship extended Kyoto ideas into mysticism, environmental ethics, and world philosophy.
This module continues after "Tibetan Buddhist Philosophy" in the syllabus. If you haven't reviewed it yet, it may help set the context.
Key points
11. Nishida Kitaro and the Logic of Place (Basho)22. Pure Experience and the Critique of Subject-Object Dualism33. Nishitani Keiji on Nihilism and Absolute Nothingness44. Watsuji Tetsuro's Ethics of Betweenness (Aidagara)55. The Kyoto School's Engagement with Heidegger and German Philosophy66. The Kyoto School's Wartime Controversy and Political Legacy77. Comparative Philosophy: East-West Dialogue after Nishida88. Modern Japanese Philosophy's Influence on Contemporary Thought
Visual module map
1Nishida Kitaro and the Logic of Place (Basho)
2Nishitani Keiji on Nihilism and Absolute Nothingness
3The Kyoto School's Engagement with Heidegger and German Philosophy
4The Kyoto School's Wartime Controversy and Political Legacy
5Modern Japanese Philosophy's Influence on Contemporary Thought
Alternative visual view: a simplified sequence of some of the module's key points, in their order within the syllabus.
Your module mastery
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Final test
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Optional mini-games
Extra practice, with no penalty, to reinforce the module's content.
Further reading
Bibliography and cited sources used to create this module.
- Heisig, James W. (2001). Philosophers of Nothingness: An Essay on the Kyoto School. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press.
- Nishida, Kitaro (1990). An Inquiry into the Good (trans. Masao Abe and Christopher Ives). New Haven: Yale University Press.
- Nishitani, Keiji (1982). Religion and Nothingness (trans. Jan Van Bragt). Berkeley: University of California Press.
- Watsuji, Tetsuro (1996). Watsuji Tetsuro's Rinrigaku: Ethics in Japan (trans. Yamamoto Seisaku and Robert E. Carter). Albany: State University of New York Press.
- Heisig, James W., Kasulis, Thomas P., and Maraldo, John C. (Eds.) (2011). Japanese Philosophy: A Sourcebook. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press.
- Heisig, James W., and Maraldo, John C. (Eds.) (1994). Rude Awakenings: Zen, the Kyoto School, and the Question of Nationalism. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press.