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265 Pages·2008·1.54 MB·English
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Kierkegaard and Japanese Thought Edited by James Giles Kierkegaard and Japanese Thought 99778800223300__555522883388__0011__pprreexxiivv..iinndddd ii 33//2266//22000088 66::5588::5522 AAMM Also by James Giles THE NATURE OF SEXUAL DESIRE NO SELF TO BE FOUND: the Search for Personal Identity A STUDY IN PHENOMENALISM KIERKEGAARD AND FREEDOM (editor) FRENCH EXISTENTIALISM: Consciousness, Ethics, and Relations with Others (editor) 99778800223300__555522883388__0011__pprreexxiivv..iinndddd iiii 33//2266//22000088 66::5588::5522 AAMM Kierkegaard and Japanese Thought Edited by James Giles 99778800223300__555522883388__0011__pprreexxiivv..iinndddd iiiiii 33//2266//22000088 66::5588::5522 AAMM Editorial matter, selection © James Giles 2008 Chapters © their authors 2008 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The authors have asserted their rights to be identified as the authors of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published in 2008 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world. PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St. Martin’s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan® is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. ISBN-13: 978–0–230–55283–8 hardback ISBN-10: 0–230–55283–8 hardback This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Kierkegaard and Japanese thought / edited by James Giles. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 0–230–55283–8 (hardback: alk. paper) 1. Kierkegaard, Søren, 1813–1855. 2. Philosophy, Japanese. 3. Philosophy, Comparative. I. Giles, James, 1958– B4377.K45525 2007 198(cid:2).9—dc22 2007051188 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 Printed and bound in Great Britain by CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham and Eastbourne 99778800223300__555522883388__0011__pprreexxiivv..iinndddd iivv 33//2266//22000088 66::5588::5522 AAMM Contents Preface vii Notes on the Editor and Contributors x Editorial Note xiv 1. I ntroduction: Kierkegaard among the Temples of Kamakura 1 James Giles 2. A Short History of Kierkegaard’s Reception in Japan 31 Kinya Masugata 3. J apanese Pure Land Buddhism and Kierkegaard 53 Hidetomo Yamashita 4. A Zen Understanding of Kierkegaard’s Existential Thought 71 Eshin Nishimura 5. T o Practise One Thing: Kierkegaard through the Eyes of Dō gen 87 James Giles 6. A eterno Modo: the Expression of an Integral Consciousness in the Work of Kierkegaard and Dō gen 106 Ian Mills 7. Truth, Paradox, and Silence: Hakuin and Kierkegaard 124 Archie Graham 8. Living with Death: Kierkegaard and the Samurai 141 Adam Buben v 99778800223300__555522883388__0011__pprreexxiivv..iinndddd vv 33//2266//22000088 66::5588::5522 AAMM vi Contents 9. K ierkegaard and Nishida: Ways to the Non-Substantial 159 Eiko Hanaoka 10. The Religious Thought of Nishida and Kierkegaard 172 Shudo Tsukiyama 11. Kobayashi’s Spirit of Unselfishness and Kierkegaard’s Faith 185 Makoto Mizuta 12. M ori and Kierkegaard: Experience and Existence 201 Mime Morita 13. O tani: a Kierkegaardian Fellow of the Dead 219 Kinya Masugata Index 231 99778800223300__555522883388__0011__pprreexxiivv..iinndddd vvii 33//2266//22000088 66::5588::5522 AAMM Preface This is a book with several purposes. First, it is a book on the philosophy of Kierkegaard. It involves the exploration of his ideas, arguments, and approach to the perennial problems of philosophy. Equally, it is also a book on Japanese thought. It is concerned with Japanese ways of under- standing reality and the human condition, and also with Japanese ideas surrounding Eastern practices like meditation. Japanese thought in this sense, which involves more than what is usually seen in the West as philosophy, encompasses a diverse range of traditions, each of which is blended together with the others to be given a unique expression within Japanese culture. The Japanese expression of these traditions is a major theme throughout the following pages. Because, however, the main focus is on the ideas of historical figures and on historical schools of thought, it is also a book on the history of philosophy. As a result, it is at the same time a book on philosophy. This is because to grasp fully the ideas of a thinker or a tradition, one must also critically evaluate those ideas. And to engage in such an evaluation of ideas within the history of philosophy is, at the same time, to engage in philosophy itself. That is, it is an attempt to explore fundamental questions about the nature of existence, to do so in a careful and critical way, to discover where the problems lie, and to arrive at some under- standing of ourselves and the world in which we live. This is the essence of philosophy. Further, this is a book in comparative philosophy. Comparative phi- losophy is a method of enquiry in which philosophy is practised from within an intercultural perspective. All philosophical enquiry starts from the background assumptions and concerns of the culture in which it is pursued. As a result, it is often difficult for a philosopher to be fully aware of his or her culture’s influence on his or her way of pursuing philosophy; for this influence is everywhere. It is much like not noticing the air through which we move about in our day to day lives. We do not notice it because we are seemingly forever immersed within it. In comparative philosophy, however, the philosopher attempts to loosen the grip of his or her culture by entering a new one. In doing so, the philosophical traveller is presented with new ways of understand- ing and new ways of seeing old problems. Previously unnoticed assump- tions and concerns are often thrown into stark relief simply because the vii 99778800223300__555522883388__0011__pprreexxiivv..iinndddd vviiii 33//2266//22000088 66::5588::5522 AAMM viii Preface newly entered culture does not make them or have them. Or perhaps the culture has contrasting assumptions and interests. All of this can serve to give insight not only into one’s own and different p hilosophical traditions, but also into the problems being pursued. This sort of comparative approach to philosophy is especially impor- tant in trying to understand someone like Kierkegaard. This is because both Kierkegaard’s philosophy and ways of thinking seem to reach beyond the strictures of his own nineteenth-century European culture. Kierkegaard, however, knew nothing of Japanese culture or even any non-Western culture, and so was forced to interpret his own insights from within a purely Western and Christian perspective. But if he had known of Japanese Buddhism, Shintō , or Taoism, would he have contin- ued to see himself as being a Christian thinker? This is a significant ques- tion to ask, especially since Kierkegaard – just like the contributors to this volume – would obviously have noticed the links and connections that elements in his work bear to the philosophical traditions of the Far East. It is also a vital question to ask since Kierkegaard was far from having a traditionally accepted understanding of Christianity. Moreover, he him- self unleashed an ‘attack on Christendom’, and thus sought to distance himself in some sense from Christian t hinking. Contemporary philosophers and scholars are, or at least ought to be, less limited in their awareness of other cultures than Kierkegaard was. Consequently, even though Kierkegaard was constrained in his knowl- edge of non-Western cultures, and thus in his ability to see his own ideas in terms of other cultural ways of understanding, we are not. By ignoring other traditions the interpreter of Kierkegaard is restricting himself or herself in essentially the same way that Kierkegaard did. The problem, however, is that to comprehend Kierkegaard in what might be called a Japanese way, the Western scholar must first make the effort to know something about Japanese thought (just as the Japanese scholars in this book have, through their study of Kierkegaard, made the effort to know something about Western thought). Unfortunately, not only does this require work, and therefore enough of an interest in other cultures to do the work, but it also goes against the ethnocentric- ity of many Western scholars, especially Kierkegaard scholars, many of whom have a vested interest in seeing Kierkegaard as essentially a Christian thinker. Kierkegaard says that one of his goals is to make things more difficult for people. This also points to another purpose of this book; for this book is presented in the same spirit, namely, to make it more difficult for Western philosophers and scholars to continue to pretend that Japanese 99778800223300__555522883388__0011__pprreexxiivv..iinndddd vviiiiii 33//2266//22000088 66::5588::5522 AAMM Preface ix ways of reading Kierkegaard do not exist. The difficulty this book creates for such people is, of course, only a small one. But if one is lucky (or in their case unlucky), small difficulties can lead to big problems. Most of the chapters that follow are based on papers that were p resented at the First International Conference of the Kierkegaard Society of Japan, which was held at the University of Melbourne, Australia in December 2005. I therefore want to thank the officers of the Society, especially Kinya Masuagata and Shin Fujida for their work in organizing the conference, and also for helping me to bring the ideas presented at the conference to publication. JAMES GILES 99778800223300__555522883388__0011__pprreexxiivv..iinndddd iixx 33//2266//22000088 66::5588::5533 AAMM

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