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194An Apology for Philosophical TransgressionsEuropean Journal of Japanese Philosophy 2 43-67. 2017.The essay that follows is, in substance, a lecture delivered in Brussels on 7 December 2016 to the 2nd International Conference of the European Network of Japanese Philosophy. In it I argue that the strategy of qualifying nothingness as an “absolute,” which was adopted by Kyoto School thinkers as a way to come to grips with fundamental problems of Western philosophy, is inherently ambiguous and ultimately weakens the notion of nothingness itself. In its place, a proposal is made to define nothin…Read more
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150Japanese Philosophy: A SourcebookUniversity of Hawaiʻi Press. 2011.This is a set of essays and translations that covers comprehensively all of Japanese philosophy.
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78Non-I and thou: Nishida, Buber, and the moral consequences of self-actualizationPhilosophy East and West 50 (2): 179-207. 2000.Ten years after Buber published his "I and Thou," the Japanese philosopher Nishida Kitarō published a book of the same title, knowing only Buber's name but nothing of his ideas. A comparison of these two works suggests certain fundamental differences between philosophies of being and philosophies of nothingness regarding the nature of human relationships. In particular, it points to the inherent tendency of the latter to remove moral responsibility and social consciousness to high but ineffectiv…Read more
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64Rude Awakenings: Zen, the Kyoto School, and the Question of NationalismPhilosophy East and West 47 (3): 439. 1997.
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61Much Ado About Nothingness: Essays on Nishida and TanabeChisokudo Publications. 2015.Much Ado About Nothingness brings together 14 essays on Nishida Kitaro and Tanabe Hajime by one of the leading scholars of twentieth-century Japanese philosophy. With Nishidaâs âlogic of placeâ and Tanabeâs âlogic of the specificâ providing a continuity to the whole, the author writes from a conviction that âthe overriding challenge for those doing philosophy in the key of the Kyoto School, with their sights set squarely on self-awareness like Nishida and Tanabe before them, is to …Read more
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60East Asian Philosophy and the Case against Perfect TranslationsComparative and Continental Philosophy 2 (1): 81-90. 2010.In this essay the author argues for rethinking the canons of translation of East Asian philosophical texts in order to draw Western philosophers more deeply into conversation with them
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51Frontiers of Japanese Philosophy 6: Confluences and Cross-Currents (edited book)Nanzan. 2009.The list of publications having to do with Japanese intellectual history in general and Kyoto School philosophy in particular has grown steadily over the past years, both inside and outside of Japan. This is due in no small part to the important contributions made by those whose papers are included in this volume, the proceedings of an international conference held in June 2009 at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona. Although much remains to be done if Japanese philosophy is to shed its es…Read more
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44The author takes a quick look back at his philosophical education and academic interests through the lens of »comparative philosophy« and uncovers a progression of cross-cultural and cross-historical patterns at work, many of them unfolding tacitly beneath the surface. He concludes with a brief listing of five such patterns, culminating in an appeal for a recovery of unified world views shaped within particular traditions but set against the universal backdrop of a common care for the earth.
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40Frontiers of Japanese Philosophy: Japanese Philosophy Abroad (edited book)Nanzan Institute for Religion & Culture. 2004.The twelfth bi-annual symposium of the Nanzan Institute took up the problem of the philosophical tradition of Japan and how it has fared abroad. There were two principal foci of the meetings: the history and future prospects of the study and teaching of Japanese philosophy outside of Japan, and the preparation of a Sourcebook of Japanese Philosophy aimed at providing a solid anthology of Japanese philospohical resources from the earliest times up to the present. To address these two questions, 1…Read more
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37Rude awakenings: Zen, the Kyoto school, & the question of nationalism (edited book)University of Hawai'i Press. 1995.Zen Buddhist Attitudes to War HIRATA Seiko IN ORDER FULLY TO UNDERSTAND the standpoint of Zen on the question of nationalism, one must first consider the ...
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37Frontiers of Japanese Philosophy 3: Origins and Possibilities (edited book)Nanzan Institute for Religion & Culture. 2008.he fourteen essays gathered together in this, the third volume of Frontiers of Japanese Philosophy, represent one more step in ongoing efforts to bring the concerns of twentieth-century Japanese philosophy into closer contact with philosophical traditions around the world. As its title indicates, the aims are twofold: to reflect critically on the work of leading figures in the modern academic philosophy of Japan and to straddle the borderlands where they touch on the work of their counterparts i…Read more
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32Japan Society for Buddhist-Christian StudiesBuddhist-Christian Studies 24 (1): 235-235. 2004.In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Japan Society for Buddhist-Christian StudiesJames W. HeisigThe Japan Society for Buddhist-Christian Studies held its twenty-second annual conference this year, organized around the theme "Body, Place, and East-West Exchange." The meetings were held at the Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture, 22-24 July 2003, with main presentations by Honda Masaaki ("From Body to Place"), Kawanami Akira ("The Body and the Pure Land"), and Hanao…Read more
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25Japanese Philosophy Abroad (edited book)Nanzan Institute for Religion & Culture. 2004.The twelfth bi-annual symposium of the Nanzan Institute took up the problem of the philosophical tradition of Japan and how it has fared abroad. There were two principal foci of the meetings: the history and future prospects of the study and teaching of Japanese philosophy outside of Japan, and the preparation of a Sourcebook of Japanese Philosophy aimed at providing a solid anthology of Japanese philospohical resources from the earliest times up to the present. To address these two questions, 1…Read more
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23An Inquiry into the Good and Nishida’s Missing BashoComparative and Continental Philosophy 4 (2). 2012.In December 2010 Kyoto University hosted a symposium honoring the hundredth anniversary of the publication of Nishida Kitarō’s An Inquiry into the Good. The following is an English version of a talk delivered on that occasion. In it I have tried to argue against the widely held view that this maiden work contains the germ of Nishida’s mature philosophy, and at the same time to suggest that an early strain of ambiguity regarding the notion of the will points to a neglect of the natural world in h…Read more
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22The Heart of Buddhism: In Search of the Timeless Spirit of Primitive BuddhismPhilosophy East and West 35 (2): 221-223. 1985.
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21Tanabe Hajime and the Hint of A Dharmic FinalityComprendre 13 (2): 55-69. 2011.The Japanese philosopher, Tanabe Hajime is taken up as an example of a thinker who, like the conference question, straddles intellectual histories East and West. Of all the Kyoto School philosophers, it was he who took history most seriously. He not only criticized Kantian, Hegelian, and Marxist notions of teleology and the modern scientific myth of "progress" on their own ground, but went on to counter these views of history with a logic of emptiness grounded in Buddhist philosophy. The essay c…Read more
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19Book Review: Steffen Döll, Wozu also suchen? Zur Einführung in das Denken von Ueda Shizuteru (review)Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 33 (1): 208-211. 2006.
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19Japan Society for Buddhist-Christian StudiesBuddhist-Christian Studies 23 (1): 139-139. 2003.In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Buddhist-Christian Studies 23 (2003) 139 [Access article in PDF] Japan Society for Buddhist-Christian Studies James W. Heisig Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture The twenty-first annual meeting of the Japan Society for Buddhist-Christian Studies was held from July 24 to 26, 2002 at the Palace Side Hotel in Kyoto. The theme for the year was "The Body and Religion."Yoritomi Motohiro delivered a paper on "The Shingon View of the B…Read more
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18In Memoriam: Jan Van Bragt (1928–2007)Buddhist-Christian Studies 28 141-144. 2008.In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:In Memoriam: Jan Van Bragt (1928–2007)James W. HeisigEarly on the morning of Easter Thursday, April 12, 2007, Jan Van Bragt passed away quietly at the age of seventy-eight.1 During the previous year his health had begun to deteriorate, until in the final days of 2006 he was obliged to leave Kyoto and take up residence with his religious congregation in Himeji. On February 21, he was hospitalized with lung cancer and was operated on s…Read more
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18The 2004 Meeting of the Japan Society for Buddhist-Christian StudiesBuddhist-Christian Studies 25 (1): 153-153. 2005.
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16Origins and Possibilities (edited book)Nanzan Institute for Religion & Culture. 2008.The fourteen essays gathered together in this, the third volume of Frontiers of Japanese Philosophy, represent one more step in ongoing efforts to bring the concerns of twentieth-century Japanese philosophy into closer contact with philosophical traditions around the world. As its title indicates, the aims are twofold: to reflect critically on the work of leading figures in the modern academic philosophy of Japan and to straddle the borderlands where they touch on the work of their counterparts …Read more
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16The Religious Philosophy of the Kyoto School: An OverviewJapanese Journal of Religious Studies 17 (1): 51-81. 1990.
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14Review of: Ueda Shizuteru, Nishida Kitarō: Ningen no shōgai to iu koto; Keiken to jikaku: Nishida Tetsugaku no “basho” o motomete (review)Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 24 (1-2): 197-202. 1997.
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13The 1999 Meeting of the Japan Society for Buddhist-Christian StudiesBuddhist-Christian Studies 20 (1): 1-1. 2000.In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Buddhist-Christian Studies 20 (2000) 237 [Access article in PDF] News and Views The 1999 Meeting of the Japan Society for Buddhist-Christian Studies James HeisigNanzan Institute for Religion and CultureThe 18th Annual Meeting of the Japan Society for Buddhist-Christian Studies was held in Kyoto from 21 to 23 August 1999. Discussions centered around three papers delivered under the general theme of "Nature, Self, and Spirituality."Wat…Read more
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13Filosofi Del NullaChisokudo Publications. 2007.Traduzione italiana a cura di Enrico Fongaro, Carlo Saviani e Tiziano Tosolini. Il volume presenta il pensiero delle tre principali figure della cosiddetta âscuola di Kyotoâ, Nishida Kitaro, Tanabe Hajime e Nishitani Keiji, mostrando come questa originale corrente del pensiero giapponese del Novecento costituisca per la filosofia tradizionale una sfida ad oltrepassare i suoi confini occidentali.
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11Nishida Kitaro (edited book)University of California Press. 1991.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, 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,…Read more
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11This collection of papers focuses on Philosophy as Metanoetics, the seminal work of the celebrated Japanese philosopher Tanabe Hajime (1885-1962).
Cambridge University
PhD, 1973
Areas of Specialization
Philosophical Traditions |
Philosophy, Misc |
Other Academic Areas |
Religious Studies |
Psychology |
Areas of Interest
Philosophical Traditions |
Philosophy, Misc |
Other Academic Areas |
Religious Studies |
Psychology |