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In recent years several books by major figures in Japan's modern philosophical tradition have appeared in English, exciting readers by their explorations of the borderlands between philosophy and religion. What has been wanting, however, is a book in a Western language to elucidate the life and thought of Nishida Kitaro (1870-1945), Japan's first philosopher of world stature and the originator of what has come to be called the Kyoto School. No one is more qualified to write such a book than Nishitani Keiji, whose lifetime coincides with the rise and flowering of the Kyoto School and whose own critical contribution to Japanese thought has been so important.
"Nishida Kitaro" is a translation of essays Nishitani wrote about his teacher from 1936 to 1968 and published as a book in 1985. This series of meditations by one master on another provides a remarkable, living portrait of Nishida the person and conveys the enthusiasm he aroused in his students. Examining Nishida's most important work, "An Inquiry into the Good," Nishitani penetrates to the core of his thought and presents it in language that is a marvel of clarity.
About the author
Nishitani Keiji is Professor Emeritus of Kyoto University. His collected writings currently number thirteen volumes, including Religion and Nothingness (1949; University of California Press, 1982). Yamamoto Seisaku is Professor of Philosophy at Kyoto University. James W. Heisig is a permanent fellow of the Nanzan Institute for Religon and Culture in Nagoya, Japan. D. S. Clarke is Professor of Philosophy at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.
Summary
Nishida Kitaro (1870-1945) is Japan's first philosopher of world stature and the originator of what has come to be called the Kyoto School. Nishitani Keiji's lifetime coincides with the rise and flowering of the Kyoto School. This is a translation of essays Nishitani wrote about his teacher from 1936 to 1968.
