Japanese Philosophy

This article presents Minobe Tatsukichi’s emperor organ theory as a novel understanding of the temporality of founding. In contrast to a conventional framework of founding which legitimizes the con...

: Most discussions of Yamaga Soko's philosophical development as a Confucian scholar in Tokugawa Japan suggest that in his later years he moved away from Confucianism and toward a religio-philosophical celebration of Japan's supposed uniqueness. It is shown here, however, that Soko's nativism, set forth in his Chucho jijitsu, was later eclipsed by his final philosophical work, the Gengen hakki, wherein he articulated a kind of naturalistic numerology, based vaguely on the Yijing. This shift in Soko's thought can be viewed (...) as a return to Neo-Confucianism, the earliest philosophical paradigm that he had embraced. Moreover, the successive shifts in his thinking can be understood in terms of the vicissitudes of his life, first in his exile to the Kansai area, near the ancient imperial capital of Kyoto, and then later in his pardon and return to Edo, the shogun's capital. Perhaps most importantly, this final shift in Soko's thought reveals that this prominent early modern thinker did reach his philosophical climax not in defiant opposition to Neo-Confucianism, nor in a sustained celebration of Japan's political traditions and their superlative nature, but instead in a return to modes of metaphysics akin to those typically deployed by Neo- Confucians themselves in their attempts to understand the changing nature of the cosmos and their political place within its flux. (shrink)

By the mid-19th century, an increasing number of Japan's political leaders and scholars realized that Japan had to adapt and incorporate some elements of Western-style industrialization into their own political and economic order as the necessary means to remain independent of Western imperialism. The Opium War in China, and later the Euro-American bombardments of the domain capitals in Choshu and Satsuma demonstrated that trying to defend the realm with only an increased emphasis on coastal defense would ultimately fail to keep (...) out the barbarians from the West. Sakuma Shozan, a samurai scholar from Matsushiro, proposed a dichotomous philosophy of 'Eastern ethics, Western science' as the means to strengthen Japan both internally and externally, and allow Japan to maintain its independence. In this paper, I argue that Sakuma's dichotomous approach can be interpreted within a Hegelian dialectical paradigm. After the traditional order of Japan (Eastern ethics as Idea/Thesis) came into contact with the industrializing order of the West (Western science as Nature/Anti-Thesis), Sakuma believed a new order would be created in Japan (Synthesis) that combined an increased knowledge on the Eastern ethics of Neo-Confucianism with the 'new' scientific knowledge of the West. (shrink)

In the writings of the Japanese Pure Land Buddhist Shinran 親鸞 (1173–1263) we read: “I, Shinran, do not have a single disciple of my own” (SZ Supplement: 10; Saitō 2010: 242; Yuien 1996: 6). Is he simply being modest? Does Shinran defy discipleship? Does he rule out the possibility of the reception of his thought? The answer to these questions is not clear; nevertheless, what we do know is that the reader of his writings is supposed to arrive at the (...) Buddha’s original teaching. Shinran’s voluminous works, however, exhibit more than an introduction to, or simple interpretation of, the Buddha’s preaching. We may say that Shinran has given us sermons and treatises that manifest an authentic and unique appropriation of the Buddhist tradition, and, therefore, his works offer the possibility of a thoughtful reception for his interpreters and disciples. The philosopher KUKI Shūzō 九鬼周造 (1888–1941) wrote remarkable verses about Shinran seven centuries after his death: “I will have no disciple, said Shinran; as for me [Kuki], I long to have his soul” (KSZ Supplement, 146; Saitō 2010: 242). Kuki’s poetic reflections express Shinran’s quest for an authentic life, and echo back the existentialist aspect of his philosophy. More than this, his words commit him to Shinran as his teacher. Do these words not enact the most authentic discipleship possible? In fact, SAITŌ Takako takes Kuki’s verses as empirical evidence of his receiving the intellectual legacy of Shinran. Thus, at the end of her article, the proof of historical facticity of reception retroactively justifies Saitō’s careful comparison of Kuki’s thought with Shinran’s, which began based on presuming similarities in content. In other words, the factual findings prove the validity of comparing Shinran and Kuki, although a truthful reading is impossible to verify historically. Be that as it may, Kuki’s poetic expression demonstrates the history of the reception of a pre-modern Buddhist by a modern philosopher in Japan, regardless of whether this discipleship was ultimately judged to be authentic and perfected, or an untimely failure. (shrink)

Tetsugaku Companion to Japanese Philosophy – Ueda Shizuteru (Forthcoming: Sringer) Table of Contents (to be revised) Introduction Raquel Bouso, Adam Loughnane, Ralf Müller Part 1 Ueda Shizuteru’s Philosophy Chapter 1: Introducing Ueda Chapter 2: The Contours of Ueda Shizuteru’s Philosophy of Zen Bret Davis Part 2 Mysticism, Eckhart and Zen Chapter 3: Ueda as Reader of Eckhart Bernard Stevens Chapter 4: An Ontology of Non-Discriminatory Love: The Resurrection of the Triune Self in Ueda Shizuteru’s Appropriation and Critique of Meister Eckhart (...) Gregory Moss Chapter 5: “The Self that is not a self”: Ueda and Guoan’s Ten Ox pictures Gereon Kopf Chapter 6: On Mysticism and Non-Mysticism Carlotta Moiso Part 3 Ueda and Contemporary Philosophy Chapter 7: Ueda on Being-in-the-Twofold-World or World Amidst The Open Expanse: Reading Nishida Through Heidegger and Reading Heidegger Through Nishida John Krummel Chapter 8: Nishida and Ueda on Philosophical Reflection Ishihara Yuko Chapter 9: Twofold Being-in-the-World in Ueda’s Philosophy: On His Interpretation of Heidegger and Nishida Ōta Hironobu Chapter 10: In-between: Religious quest and philosophy of life in Ueda and Buber Raquel Bouso Chapter 11: Ueda’s Metaethics Jason Dockstader Part 4 Hermeneutics and Language Chapter 12: Ueda and Heidegger: Playing in Hollowness, Abiding in Actuality and the Risk of Poetic Language Adam Loughnane Chapter 13:The articulation of silence in language. About Ueda Shizuteru’s language thinking Ralf Müller Chapter 14: Nothingness and the poetic experience: Ueda and Valente Pablo Acosta and Raquel Bouso Chapter 15: Being With and In Language Ueda’s Phenomenological Approach to Language through Urwort Kuwayama Yukiko Part 5 Ueda in debate Chapter 16: Introduction to Ueda’s works James W. Heisig Chapter 17: Reviewing Ueda’s PhD Dissertation- Review Heinrich Dumoulin - Review Jan Sudbrack Chapter 18: Ueda Shizuteru and Ito Masao discussing the heart - The depth of the heart Ueda Shizuteru - Replying to Ueda: The brain and the secret of the heart Ito Masao Chapter 19: Interview: To Shoulder The Tradition of the Kyoto School Ueda Shizuteru interviewed by Takahashi Yoshito Appendix Bibliography The Ten Oxherding Pictures. (shrink)

Wie denkt Dogen (1200-1253) Sprache im Horizont der sprachkritischen Tradition des Zenbuddhismus? Die vorliegende Studie widmet sich dieser Frage und rekonstruiert umfassend das Sprachdenken des philosophisch fruchtbarsten Autors der japanischen Vormoderne. Dazu wählt der Autor einen doppelten Zugang: zum einen rezeptionsgeschichtlich unter Einschluss von Philosophen des modernen Japans, zum anderen systematisch mithilfe der Symboltheorie Ernst Cassirers in der Theoretisierung eines adäquaten Sprachbegriffs. So verschränken sich mit Interpretationen zum Hauptwerk Dogens, dem Shobogenzo, Außen- und Innenperspektive auf ein zenbuddhistisches Sprachdenken und erweisen (...) es in seiner Kommensurabilität zum philosophischen Diskurs. (shrink)