Description
Book SynopsisThis book offers the first introduction to a major Japanese philosophical movement through the interests and arguments of its founder, Nishida Kitaro (1870-1945), his successor, Tanabe Hajime (1885-1962), and student-turned-critic, Tosaka Jun (1900-1945). Focusing on their contributions to thinking about place, space, and dialectics, this concise introduction brings these influential thinkers to life by connecting their work to issues still debated in the philosophy of science and physics today. Beginning with an overview of the reception of quantum physics and relativity theory in Japan and concluding with an account of the direct relevance of the Kyoto School to the development of world philosophy in a posthuman age, each clearly-written chapter engages historical contexts and includes: Carefully-chosen excerpts and original translations of Nishida, Tanabe, and Tosaka Focus boxes explaining complex concepts and problems of contextualization A timeline, glossary and index Furthe
Trade ReviewThis primer on the thought of Nishida Kitaro, Tanabe Hajime, and Tosaka Jun deconstructs the conventional divide between a scientifically minded West and a religiously inspired East. Approaching the philosophy of modern physics through the lens of the Kyoto School, Dean Brink's work breaks new ground in the history of ideas and champions the rights of cross-cultural "scientific humanism". * Rossella Lupacchini, Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy and Communication Studies, University of Bologna, Italy *
This exciting book illuminates an often overlooked facet that reflects the depth and the scope of three thinkers who helped create world philosophy. Brink’s exposition and translations show how the philosophies of Nishida, Tanabe, and Tosaka decenter Western-tinted philosophy of science, expose assumptions about basic concepts like space and matter, and envision much needed alternatives for understanding agency in the world today. * John Maraldo, Professor of philosophy, Emeritus, University of North Florida, USA *
Table of Contents1. Introduction: Relativity and quantum physics in the Kyoto School 2. Nishida Philosophy, place, field, and quantum phenomena Nishida’s method and the physical site of active intuition Operationalism and the logic of place in Nishida’s
Empirical Science Glossary Discussion Further Reading
3. Mediation in Tanabe’s dialectical vision of competing fields within physics Tanabe’s dialectics of classical and modern physics Situating modern physics in the Kyoto School: From Aristotle to Dirac Glossary Discussion Further Reading
4. Modern physics and ideology in Tosaka Jun From Kantian to Marxist approaches to space and matter Tosaka’s critique of the crisis in modern physics Glossary Discussion Further Reading
5. What we can learn from the Kyoto School The philosophy of physics and competing conceptions of materiality in Nishida, Tanabe, and Tosaka Implications for critical materialisms today Glossary Discussion Further Reading
Annotated Bibliography Works in European languages Works in Japanese and Chinese
Index
