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6Words are changing their meanings in natural language. Even if their extension remains the same, their intension does not, and a sentence often alters in meaning. Whenever such a phenomenon occurs, what is happening in us? Contextualism offers some effective explanation, but is unable to see why even the meaning of a predicate changes, why our “thought” expressed in a sentence undergoes substantial transformation, or why the world changes its "meanings" for us. I explore a theory of semantic det…Read more
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40Nishida no iu 'ronri' wo saikō suru (Reconsidering Nishida’s so-called 'logic')Tetsugakuzasshi 135 (808): 24-41. 2021.There have been two major approaches to Nishida’s logical thought, one is logical analysis using formal logic, the other is historical elucidation that mostly draws on dialectical logic. These have previously been considered to be completely incompatible in Nishida studies. Here I explore the complementary relation between the two camps and focus on the way Nishida pursues meanings of language with his theory of self-awareness. I elucidate how the concept of bidirectionality, formerly not consid…Read more
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62Wuxianxin huo jueduiwu?: Lun renzhi shishi benshen de kenengxing (Infinite Mind or Absolute Nothing? On the Possibility of Knowing Facts Themselves)Chung Cheng Chinese Studies 38 1-30. 2021.Modern East Asian philosophy faced a difficulty in endowing objective knowledge with its adequate location in the traditional Eastern view of mind. This led some philosophers to reconsider intellectual intuition and the relevant question of things themselves from an Eastern perspective, and among them most notably are Nishida Kitarō and Mou Zongsan. Although these philosophers have recently been comparatively studied, their core concepts such as "absolute nothing" and "infinite mind" have not be…Read more
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35Higashi ajia tetsugaku toha nanika, soshite nande aru bekika (What is East Asian Philosophy and what it should be?)Gendai Shiso 49 (1): 146-153. 2021.To be logical is to be faithful to reasoning and trust the universality of reason. Given this, to be philosophically East Asian and to be fundamentally logical amount to the same attitude—this is the sole dictum of East Asian philosophy, which has been validated by both Kyoto School and New Confucian philosophers. I argue that this dictum does not contradict with their keen intuition or sensitivity for that which are not grasped by means of formal languages.
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88Imiriron no betsu no kanōsei: Dwurūzu to kanōsekai imiron no kōsaku (Another theory of meaning: Deleuze and possible-world semantics)Gaidai Ronso 70 (1): 67-85. 2019.In philosophy of language, contribution from continental philosophy is scarcely examined or acknowledged although Deleuze’s criticism against truth-conditional semantics is worth consideration. I examine his peculiar phenomenological theory of possible-world semantics that draws on analytic function. It contains a meta-semantic theory of emergence, which describes how individuality and personhood originate from the impersonal and pre-individual field. This is a type of meaning theory different f…Read more
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64Nishida tetsugaku to tendai bukkyō (Nishida's philosophy and Tiantai Buddhism)Nishida Tetsugakukai Nenpo 12 151-165. 2015.This paper attempts to show the characteristics of Tiantai’s perfect teaching (yuanjiao) in Nishida’s philosophy of basho. This is an alternative to a certain type of Nishida interpretation that emphasizes influences from Huayan Buddhism and the Awakening of Faith in Nishida’s metaphysics, especially in his later notion of absolutely contradictory identity. These Buddhist doctrines as well as Yogācāra Buddhism are classified by Tiantai Buddhism as distinctive teaching (biejiao), not perfect te…Read more
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40Engaging Japanese Philosophy: A Short History By Thomas Kasulis (review)International Journal of Asian Studies 16 158-160. 2019.
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61Japanese PhilosophyOxford Bibliographies in Philosophy. 2018.Japanese philosophy can be viewed as consisting of three historical phases. In the first and classical phase, theoretical speculation in Japan is usually seen as a variation of East Asian intellectual tradition, which basically consists of Confucianism and Sinicized Buddhism. Some thinkers nevertheless start to depart from this framework by drawing either on the indigenous culture or on the knowledge of occidental civilization, which eventually leads to the Westernization of Japanese society. In…Read more
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59Interaction Between Japanese Buddhism and ConfucianismIn Gereon Kopf (ed.), The Dao Companion to Japanese Buddhist Philosophy, Springer. pp. 205-234. 2016.Buddhism has gradually reclaimed its place as the most important spiritual tradition to the extent that modern Japanese philosophers no longer even mention Confucian thought, especially since the birth of a Japanese style of philosophy represented by the Kyoto School. Against this historical background, it may seem questionable if anything like an effective interaction between Japanese Buddhist-inspired philosophy and Confucianism ever existed. This essay concentrate on the two occasions in the …Read more
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52This paper tries to clarify the theory of difference in terms of ji or soku ("即") that is developed by Nishida Kitarō and Mou Zongsan, comparing it with contemporary occidental Metaphysics of difference. It is known that Nishida's argument for basho or place shows a kind of hesitation between identity and difference; several Kyoto philosophers, along with recent researchers, interpret Nishida's philosophy of "absolutely contradictory identity" in terms of soku as an ontology of not identity but …Read more
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102Tanabe Hajime no Fukusokansū ron (Tanabe Hajime on complex analysis)RIMS Kokyuroku Bessatsu 71 (B): 75-92. 2018.Tanabe Hajime (1885-1962) in his later years explored the so-called "dialectical" interpretation of complex analysis, an important part of his philosophy of mathematics that has previously been criticized as lacking mathematical accuracy and philosophical importance. I interpret his elaboration on complex analysis as an attempt to develop Leibniz's theory of individual notion and to supplement Hegel's view of higher analysis with the development in mathematics such as the theory of analytic cont…Read more
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30Ichidomo tsukawarenai kōri wa naniwo imisuruka: Echika daiichibu kōri 2 ni tsuite no kōsatsu (What does the "unused" axiom mean in Spinoza's Ethics?: A study of Axiom 2 in Part 1 of Ethica)Spinozana (Spinoza Kyokai Nempo) 6 45-65. 2005.This work explores the hidden role of the Axiom 2 in Part 1 of Spinoza's Ethics, which is known for never being used or referred in the book from the perspective of the development of Spinoza's metaphysical system.
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102Philosophy of Doctrinal Classification: Kōyama Iwao and Mou ZongsanDao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy 13 (4): 453-468. 2014.Doctrinal classification or the panjiao 判教 system of Chinese Buddhism has been rediscovered and renewed in modern East Asian philosophy since both the Kyoto School and New Confucianism clarified the philosophical meaning of this intellectual tradition. The theoretical relation between these two modern reconsiderations, however, has not yet been studied. I analyze the theory of panjiao in Kōyama Iwao 高山岩男 and Mou Zongsan 牟宗三 so as to identify and extract, despite their apparent irrelevance, the s…Read more
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67On the Principle of Comparative East Asian Philosophy: Nishida Kitarō and Mou ZongsanNational Central University Journal of Humanities 54 1-25. 2013.Recent research both on the Kyoto School and on the contemporary New Confucians suggests significant similarities between these two modern East Asian philosophies. Still missing is, however, an explanation of the shared philosophical ideas that serve as the foundation for comparative studies. For this reason, I analyze the basic theories of the two distinctly East Asian philosophies of Nishida Kitarō (1870-1945) and Mou Zongsan (1909-95) so as to identify and extract the same type of argument. T…Read more
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51The Status of Idea rei singularis : The Foundation for Spinoza's Account of Death and LifeBulletin of Death and Life Studies 7 119-137. 2011.In this paper, I show how the notion of idea rei singularis is at the heart of Spinoza's criticism against the Cartesian metaphysics.
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49Spinoza’s geometric method is supposed to pursue crystal-clear argumentation and universal understanding, whereas past philosophers repeatedly claimed that his system failed to comprehend human conditions. If Spinoza’s intention is really to show the way to well-being, his geometric formalization must point to concrete singular existence and conditions. This obvious contradiction comes from the fact that his theory of singularity was yet under construction, while its prototype gives foundation t…Read more
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102Theory of Personhood in Nishida Kitarō and Mou Zongsan: Reflections on Critical Buddhism's View of the Kyoto SchoolTaiwan Journal of East Asian Studies 12 (1): 41-63. 2015.This paper attempts to interpret the theory of personhood in the works of Nishida Kitarō (1870-1945) in a way that refutes a certain type of Nishida interpretation that Critical Buddhism offers. According to this type of interpretation, the logic of basho is a modern version of the Qixinlun system. Based on this interpretation, Critical Buddhism denounces Kyoto School philosophy as "topical Buddhism." This paper shows how Nishida himself consciously differentiates his philosophy from the idealis…Read more
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69East Asia has nurtured an intellectual tradition that includes Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism, whose richness is arguably compared with ancient Greek. Yet, this region has repeatedly been said to have "no philosophy”—by occidental philosophers whose name value surpasses any of the eastern thinkers. Is this because of the deficiency of East Asian tradition? Or is it due to “our” ignorance? My answer is: both. I argue that modern East Asian philosophy was an attempt to recognize the deficiency…Read more
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165On buddhistic ontology: A comparative study of Mou zongsan and kyoto school philosophyPhilosophy East and West 61 (4): 647-678. 2011.Mou Zongsan's notion of "Buddhistic ontology" is interpreted here in its fundamental difference from his own previous metaphysical scheme, in the light of the Kyoto School philosophers' similar attempts to resolve the Kantian antinomy of practical reason. This is an alternative both to the analysis provided by previous interpreters of Mou's Buddhistic philosophy, such as Hans-Rudolf Kantor and N. Serina Chan, and to the comparative studies of Mou's theories with Kyoto School philosophy by Ng Yu-…Read more
Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan
Areas of Specialization
Metaphysics and Epistemology |
History of Western Philosophy |
Philosophical Traditions |
Areas of Interest
Metaphysics and Epistemology |
Science, Logic, and Mathematics |