Inside is Outside: Nishida's Dialectic of Alterity and Identity
As the most well-known modern Japanese philosopher around the world, Nishida Kitarō’s (西田幾多郎) (1870–1945) Buddhist-inspired synthesis of Western philosophy into a mature and sophisticated non-dualism has been studied from a variety of angles. As the main focus of his works tends to be on the expansion of true self-awareness, less attention has been paid to his account of human relations, especially as developed in his essay “I and Thou” (Watashi to nanji, 私と汝). This dissertation aims to address this with a thorough analysis of this essay, including comparisons with other thinkers such as Martin Buber, Emmanuel Levinas, and his own student Nishitani Keiji. The pair of “I” and “thou” will be examined through the lens of temporality, alterity, and ethics as it emerges in this text and connects with his other works. These analyses will be bookended with an overview of Nishida’s early philosophy on one side and his entry into political thought late in his life, with an eye to how persons and their relation to the world and each other was theorized at these points. Although much has been made of the significant changes in Nishida’s philosophy over time, I conclude with some thoughts on his relative unity on the nature of the true individual personality, which is established within a complex dialectic of oppositions to others grounded in the non-dual foundation of absolute nothingness.
Philosophy, Philosophy of religion, Asian studies
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