A super simple explanation by Kitaro Nishida

1)
Today, I want to introduce you to the most famous Japanese philosopher. I think he is the most famous Japanese philosopher in the world. This person's name is Kitaro Nishida (1870-1945).

He was active from the late Meiji period to the early Showa period and can be called the father of Japanese philosophy.
He was a person who created an entirely new philosophy by combining the Western philosophy introduced at that time with the indigenous ideas of Japan, especially Mahayana Buddhism.

He is sometimes called the founder of the Kyoto School. He was a professor at Kyoto University. Various researchers have gathered around Kyoto University, carrying on Nishida's philosophy.
This group is called the Kyoto School.
The Kyoto tourist attraction "Philosopher's Path" was named because Nishida prototyped his philosophy there.

2)
Today, I would like to introduce the philosophy of Kitaro Nishida, who can be called the father of Japanese philosophy.
It isn't easy to describe, but I'd like to explain it simply.

Nishida became famous because of a book he published in his early days called ``Study of Goodness'', which became a bestseller.
It came out towards the end of the Meiji era, and it seems everyone stayed up all night to buy it. It's like a new iPhone.

3)
The key word in this book is "pure experience". This is a state where there is no separation between "subjective and objective" and no distinction between "knowledge, emotion and consciousness".
We usually say that we experience something when we, as a subject, touch something that is an object.

It's the stage before that experience, called "pure experience".
At that stage, we have not separated the subject from the object or the issue from the thing.

4)
For example, you suddenly eat something without knowing what it is. This is a cake, and when I thought about it, it and I became subject and object.
In the moment before we part, there could theoretically be a moment when the cake and I become one.

Nishida's next thought is that if there is such a moment when one's consciousness and an object become one, then it would be possible to think of a place where that consciousness and the thing have a relationship.
He thinks of such places as "places of absolute nothing".

5)
It's difficult to describe, but you know where it is, don't you? It's an ordinary place.
But it is not a space like a room or a bus stop.

Rather than a physical place, I want people to consider it a precondition for all things to exist.

6)
There must be a place somewhere for things to exist or come into being.
But this place is not an ordinary place. It's not just that something exists in a particular area but that there is nothing there, that there is nothing.

Nishida's philosophy does not stop there.
When you reach the final stage, the following words appear. "Absolute Contradictory Self-Identity."

7)
His thinking continues to develop.
To put it simply, even things that seem to be contradictory exist at the same time.

For example, things that seem contradictory, such as the individual and the general or the one and the many, exist simultaneously in this world.

It seems like I'm saying something complicated but also something obvious.
Think about it: this world is full of contradictions.

8)
At first sight, many things in this world are very contradictory.
There can be peace and war, hate and love.

But the point of Nishida's philosophy is not that there is nothing we can do about this world but that we can change it.

9)
Nishida's way of thinking gradually changed from perceiving things with his conscious mind to thinking that he could change things through his actions.

The "place of absolute nothingness" and the "absolute contradictory self-identity" mentioned earlier, consciousness and object, are based on the same premise, so their interaction is different. This also means that there is a possibility.

10)
The ability to change the world attracts attention because it rethinks the world's view, which I think has always been considered self-centred.
I think this is particularly true in the age of the coronavirus. Why not take this as an opportunity to experience the philosophy of Kitaro Nishida, the father of Japanese philosophy?