Place and DialecticTwo Essays by Nishida Kitaro

Abstract

Abstract This book consists of two significant essays by Nishida Kitarō, the founder of the Kyoto school of modern Japanese philosophy, “Basho” and “Logic and Life,” together with a substantial introduction to Nishida’s thought, extensive notes to the text, bibliography, and glossary of Japanese terms. The introduction discusses the significance of Nishida as a thinker and the key components of his philosophy as a whole, and contextualizes the essays within the unfolding of his oeuvre. “Basho” (1926/27) provides the first systematic articulation of Nishida’s philosophy of “place.” In “Logic and Life” (1936/37) Nishida inquires into the prelogical origin of logic, which he suggests is to be found within the dialectical unfoldings of world history and human society. The first essay initiated the philosophical system of basho (“place”) that eventually came to be known as “Nishida philosophy.” It is indispensable to understanding not only Nishida’s philosophy but the entire Kyoto school of thought that took off from Nishida’s thoughts on basho. The second essay provides an expression of one way in which Nishida’s thinking evolved after the initial articulation of his basho-theory. It shows how Nishida applied, in his later years, his understanding of basho to the outer world of history.

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