An Essay on the Kyoto School
020616: this is a fascinating intro to Japanese 'Kyoto school' of philosophy, who were influenced strongly by European, mostly German, thought in the first half or so of the twentieth century. i have not read them, i have no background of the awkward political era before and through ww2, but it is great to have the three central voices in the opening and reception and critique of major European thinkers Kant, Nietzsche, James, Bergson, and how for example Buddhism- and later Christianity- influences the entire understanding, how 'nothingness' becomes 'emptiness', how political naïveté rather than awareness characterize some work that could be later apparent or misunderstood as wartime propaganda, how fruitful continuing examination of their work is placed somewhere 'between' and not 'at home' in either Japan or the west... have to read more but this is encouraging...
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