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Palgrave Macmillan

Kierkegaard and Japanese Thought

  • Book
  • © 2008

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Editors:
  1. James Giles

    1. University of British, UK
      University of Cambridge, UK

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Table of contents (13 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xiv
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  2. Introduction: Kierkegaard among the Temples of Kamakura

    • James Giles
    Pages 1-30

  3. A Short History of Kierkegaard’s Reception in Japan

    • Kinya Masugata
    Pages 31-52

  4. Japanese Pure Land Buddhism and Kierkegaard

    • Hidetomo Yamashita
    Pages 53-70

  5. A Zen Understanding of Kierkegaard’s Existential Thought

    • Eshin Nishimura
    Pages 71-86

  6. To Practise One Thing: Kierkegaard through the Eyes of Dōgen

    • James Giles
    Pages 87-105

  7. Aeterno Modo: the Expression of an Integral Consciousness in the Work of Kierkegaard and Dōgen

    • Ian Mills
    Pages 106-123

  8. Truth, Paradox, and Silence: Hakuin and Kierkegaard

    • Archie Graham
    Pages 124-140

  9. Living with Death: Kierkegaard and the Samurai

    • Adam Buben
    Pages 141-158

  10. Kierkegaard and Nishida: Ways to the Non-Substantial

    • Eiko Hanaoka
    Pages 159-171

  11. The Religious Thought of Nishida and Kierkegaard

    • Shudo Tsukiyama
    Pages 172-184

  12. Kobayashi’s Spirit of Unselfishness and Kierkegaard’s Faith

    • Makoto Mizuta
    Pages 185-200

  13. Mori and Kierkegaard: Experience and Existence

    • Mime Morita
    Pages 201-218

  14. Otani: a Kierkegaardian Fellow of the Dead

    • Kinya Masugata
    Pages 219-230

  15. Back Matter

    Pages 231-250
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Keywords

About this book

Kierkegaard knew nothing of Japanese philosophy yet the links between his own ideas and Japanese philosophers are remarkable. The book examines Kierkegaard in terms of Shinto, Pure Land Buddhism, Zen Buddhism, the Samurai, the famous Kyoto school of Japanese philosophers, and in terms of pivotal Japanese thinkers who were influenced by Kierkegaard.

Reviews

"The affinities between Kierkegaard's thought and elements in Japanese religion, philosophy, and culture have long been noted. Until now, however, the relationship has rarely been subjected to sustained scrutiny -at least, not in Western literature. This collection therefore makes a unique and truly important contribution to a discussion that will enrich both Kierkegaard studies and the wider cause of dialogue between Japanese and Western philosophy. Controversially rejecting the claim that Kierkegaard needs to be assessed against his own theistic background, James Giles introduces a range of contributions that reflect Zen, Pure Land, and Shint? views of life, and that engage both classic Japanese figures such as D?gen as well as modern writers and thinkers such as Kobayashi and Hisamatsu. This stimulating and thought-provoking collection will surely come to provide a point of departure for all future studies in this area." George Pattison, University of Oxford, UK, author of The Philosophy of Kierkegaard

"This work concentrates on unexpected connections between Kierkegaard's philosophical writings and Japanese thought with respect to such fundamental themes of human existence as the nature of freedom, self-deception, love, compassion, death and dying, the individual and society. It is a worthy undertaking in comparative philosophy carefully crafted by its editor James Giles. It should deepen our understanding of an extraordinary Western religious-philosophical figure and various strains, primarily Buddhist, of a major East Asian tradition." Eliot Deutsch, University of Hawaii, author of Persons and Valuable Worlds: A Global Philosophy

Editors and Affiliations

  • University of British, UK

    James Giles

  • University of Cambridge, UK

    James Giles

About the editor

ADAM BUBEN Presidential Doctoral Fellow in the philosophy department, University of South Florida, USA ARCHIE GRAHAM Postdoctoral Researcher EIKO HANAOKA Professor Emeritus, Osaka Prefecture University, Japan MAKOTO MIZUTA Former Professor of Philosophy and Medical Ethics, Fukuoka Dental College, Japan KINYA MASUGATA President of the Kierkegaard Society of Japan, Professor, Mukogawa Women's University, Japan IAN MILLS Independent scholar MIME MORITA Associate Professor of Philosophy, Ethics and Women's Studies, Osaka Christian College, Japan ESHIN NISHIMURA Professor Emeritus, Hanazono University, Japan SHUDO TSUKIYAMA Professor of Intercultural Studies, University of Otani, Japan

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