Philosophers of Nothingness

Philosophers of Nothingness PDF Author: James W. Heisig
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 9780824824815
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 402

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Book Description
The past twenty years have seen the publication of numerous translations and commentaries on the principal philosophers of the Kyoto School, but so far no general overview and evaluation of their thought has been available, either in Japanese or in Western languages. James Heisig, a longstanding participant in these efforts, has filled that gap with Philosophers of Nothingness. In this extensive study, the ideas of Nishida Kitaro, Tanabe Hajime, and Nishitani Keiji are presented both as a consistent school of thought in its own right and as a challenge to the Western philosophical tradition to open itself to the original contribution of Japan.

Philosophers of Nothingness

Philosophers of Nothingness PDF Author: James W. Heisig
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 9780824824815
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 402

Get Book

Book Description
The past twenty years have seen the publication of numerous translations and commentaries on the principal philosophers of the Kyoto School, but so far no general overview and evaluation of their thought has been available, either in Japanese or in Western languages. James Heisig, a longstanding participant in these efforts, has filled that gap with Philosophers of Nothingness. In this extensive study, the ideas of Nishida Kitaro, Tanabe Hajime, and Nishitani Keiji are presented both as a consistent school of thought in its own right and as a challenge to the Western philosophical tradition to open itself to the original contribution of Japan.

Philosophers of Nothingness

Philosophers of Nothingness PDF Author: James W. Heisig
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 0824863941
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 393

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Book Description
The past twenty years have seen the publication of numerous translations and commentaries on the principal philosophers of the Kyoto School, but so far no general overview and evaluation of their thought has been available, either in Japanese or in Western languages. James Heisig, a longstanding participant in these efforts, has filled that gap with Philosophers of Nothingness. In this extensive study, the ideas of Nishida Kitaro, Tanabe Hajime, and Nishitani Keiji are presented both as a consistent school of thought in its own right and as a challenge to the Western philosophical tradition to open itself to the original contribution of Japan.

Philosophers of Nothingness

Philosophers of Nothingness PDF Author: James W. Heisig
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 400

Get Book

Book Description
The past twenty years have seen the publication of numerous translations and commentaries on the principal philosophers of the Kyoto School, but so far no general overview and evaluation of their thought has been available, either in Japanese or in Western languages. James Heisig, a longstanding participant in these efforts, has filled that gap with Philosophers of Nothingness. In this extensive study, the ideas of Nishida Kitaro, Tanabe Hajime, and Nishitani Keiji are presented both as a consistent school of thought in its own right and as a challenge to the Western philosophical tradition to open itself to the original contribution of Japan.

Nothingness in the Heart of Empire

Nothingness in the Heart of Empire PDF Author: Harumi Osaki
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 1438473117
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
Reveals the complicity between the Kyoto School’s moral and political philosophy, based on the school’s founder Nishida Kitarō’s metaphysics of nothingness, and Japanese imperialism. In the field of philosophy, the common view of philosophy as an essentially Western discipline persists even today, while non-Western philosophy tends to be undervalued and not investigated seriously. In the field of Japanese studies, in turn, research on Japanese philosophy tends to be reduced to a matter of projecting existing stereotypes of alleged Japanese cultural uniqueness through the reading of texts. In Nothingness in the Heart of Empire, Harumi Osaki resists both these tendencies. She closely interprets the wartime discourses of the Kyoto School, a group of modern Japanese philosophers who drew upon East Asian traditions as well as Western philosophy. Her book lucidly delves into the non-Western forms of rationality articulated in such discourses, and reveals the problems inherent in them as the result of these philosophers’ engagements in Japan’s wartime situation, without cloaking these problems under the pretense of “Japanese cultural uniqueness.” In addition, in a manner reminiscent of the controversy surrounding Martin Heidegger’s involvement with Nazi Germany, the book elucidates the political implications of the morality upheld by the Kyoto School and its underlying metaphysics. As such, this book urges dialogue beyond the divide between Western and non-Western philosophies, and beyond the separation between “lofty” philosophy and “common” politics. Harumi Osaki is an independent scholar who received her PhD in contemporary French thought from Hitotsubashi University in 2003 and went on to complete a second doctorate in Japanese philosophy from McGill University in 2016.

Nothingness and the Meaning of Life

Nothingness and the Meaning of Life PDF Author: Nicholas Waghorn
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472529855
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
What is the meaning of life? Does anything really matter? In the past few decades these questions, perennially associated with philosophy in the popular consciousness, have rightly retaken their place as central topics in the academy. In this major contribution, Nicholas Waghorn provides a sustained and rigorous elucidation of what it would take for lives to have significance. Bracketing issues about ways our lives could have more or less meaning, the focus is rather on the idea of ultimate meaning, the issue of whether a life can attain meaning that cannot be called into question. Waghorn sheds light on this most fundamental of existential problems through a detailed yet comprehensive examination of the notion of nothing, embracing classic and cutting-edge literature from both the analytic and Continental traditions. Central figures such as Heidegger, Carnap, Wittgenstein, Nozick and Nagel are drawn upon to anchor the discussion in some of the most influential discussion of recent philosophical history. In the process of relating our ideas concerning nothing to the problem of life's meaning, Waghorn's book touches upon a number of fundamental themes, including reflexivity and its relation to our conceptual limits, whether religion has any role to play in the question of life's meaning, and the nature and constraints of philosophical methodology. A number of major philosophical traditions are addressed, including phenomenology, poststructuralism, and classical and paraconsistent logics. In addition to providing the most thorough current discussion of ultimate meaning, it will serve to introduce readers to philosophical debates concerning the notion of nothing, and the appendix engaging religion will be of value to both philosophers and theologians.

Religion and Nothingness

Religion and Nothingness PDF Author: Keiji Nishitani
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 9780520043299
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 374

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Book Description


The Cult Of Nothingness: The Philosophers And The Buddha

The Cult Of Nothingness: The Philosophers And The Buddha PDF Author: Roger-Pol Droit
Publisher:
ISBN: 9788121512053
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Description: The common western understanding of Buddhism today envisions this major world religion as one of compassion and tolerance. But as the author Droit reveals, this view bears little resemblance to one broadly held in the nineteenth-century European philosophical imagination that saw Buddhism as a religion of annihilation calling for the destruction of the self. The Cult of Nothingness traces the history of the western discovery of Buddhism. In so doing, the author shows that such major philosophers as Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Hegel, Cousin, and Renan imagined Buddhism as a religion that was, as Nietzsche put it, a negation of the world. In fact, says the author, such portrayals were more a reflection of what was happening in Europe at the time-when the collapse of traditional European hierarchies and values, the specter of atheism, and the rise of racism and social revolts were shaking European societies-than an accurate description of Buddhist thought. The author also reflects on how this history continues to echo in contemporary western understanding of Buddhism. The book includes a comprehensive bibliography on books on Buddhism published in the west between 1638 and 1890.

Why Is There Something Rather Than Nothing?

Why Is There Something Rather Than Nothing? PDF Author: Leszek Kolakowski
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN: 0465010385
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 300

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Book Description
Do we have free will? How can we know anything? What is justice? Why is there evil in the world? What is the source of truth? Is it possible for God not to exist? Can we really believe what we see? These are some of the questions that have intrigued the world's greatest thinkers over the ages. They are questions that make us think about the way we live, work, relate to each other, and see the world. In elegant and accessible prose, the eminent philosopher Leszek Kolakowski explores the essence of these ideas and their ongoing relevance as he introduces us to the great figures of Western thought: from Socrates to St. Augustine, Descartes to Nietzsche, and beyond. Reflecting on the great issues that animate our lives—good and evil, truth and beauty, faith and the soul, free will and consciousness—Why Is There Something Rather Than Nothing? offers a guided tour of Western philosophy by one of the world's greatest living experts.

Nihilism:

Nihilism: PDF Author: James Biser Whisker
Publisher: Nova Science Publishers
ISBN: 9781536198027
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 252

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Book Description
Nihilism is a highly negative system of thought with roots in early Greek philosophy. It came into prominence as a major movement with Friedrich Nietzsche's unparalleled assault on Christianity and Christian morality. It became a dominant theme in the dark philosophical system known as existentialism, and thus became an important force in nineteenth century literature and in twentieth century ideologies. It seeks destruction of one or more aspects of society without offering a viable alternative, frequently assuming that the better world will automatically appear after the old world is obliterated. Loathing the building blocks of the present system, nihilism asserts that the better world will be composed of new, but unspecified, components.French philosophy during and after the French Revolution, and virtually all nineteenth century Russian literature, was dominated by nihilism. German Nazism had a nihilistic base which was carefully concealed by racist rantings. Marxism, with so many of its ideas stolen from Russian and French nihilists, proclaimed that faulty economics brought about misery and poverty which would be eradicated by the new but unspecified and undescribed socialist ethic.Revolutionary systems in the twentieth century have delved heavily into the rich trove of nihilist literature to promote, describe, and espouse revolutions which have marked much of that century. Few contemporary nihilists have offered any new insights into reality, choosing only to manipulate the basic concepts heretofore advanced. But the earlier nihilistic ideas have become an all-inspiring training primer for nihilists of future polities. To understand the philosophy of nihilism is to understand the revolutions that have continued to challenge modern societies.

The Nothingness Beyond God

The Nothingness Beyond God PDF Author: Robert Edgar Carter
Publisher: New York : Paragon House
ISBN:
Category : Nishida, Kitaro, 1870-1945
Languages : en
Pages : 230

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Book Description
When we hear the term "Japanese philosophy" we think of Zen Buddhism or the Shinto scriptures. Yet one of the great 20th century interpreters of Western philosophy, Nishida Kitaro, lived and wrote in the Japanese islands all his life, laboring at an ultimate synthesis of oriental thought and Western hermeneutics. To be sure, Nishida's aim was to understand his own cultural influences in relation to the Western world. What distinguished him, however, was his passion for rendering oriental metaphysics understandable in the language of Western philosophy, and his attempts to contrast the paradoxicality of Buddhist logic with the logical strategies of Aristotle, Kant, or Hegel. Featured in this book is an interpretation of Nishida's writings. Professor Carter focuses on the Japanese thinker's notion of "basho," a concept of nothingness as field, place or topos as borrowed from Plato's Tim'us. Expounding on the logical foundations and archaic elements in Nishida's work, and carefully explaining Nishida's critical approach to the questions of God, religion and morality, and pure existence, this discerning book offers students of Western philosophy and oriental thought alike a highly readable introduction to the teachings of a true world philosopher.