Philosophy from Nothingness: Nishida Kitarō and the Kyoto School
Japan’s groundbreaking 20th-century movement fuses Zen insight with Western philosophy to create “pure experience” and a metaphysics of place, action, and absolute nothingness.
Steps
- 1
- Reading· ~11 min
Basho and Absolute Nothingness: The Logic of Place
Nishida's mature philosophy, a logic grounded not in being but in the void that makes being possible.
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- Reading· ~9 min
The Kyoto School and the Dialogue Between East and West
How Nishida's students developed his ideas, and the school's controversial engagement with politics.
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- Text Explore· ~8 min
Pure Experience and the Logic of Basho
Read Nishida's account of pure experience and the self-emptying ground of reality.
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- Argument Map· ~10 min
From Pure Experience to Absolute Nothingness
Map Nishida's philosophical progression and the Kyoto School's development of his ideas.
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- Dialogue· ~10 min
Dialogue with Nishida
Challenge the logic of absolute nothingness as a philosophical foundation.
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- Reflection· ~8 min
Reflection: Before the Split
Locate pure experience in your own life, and what it suggests about the self.
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