Kyoto Philosophy—Intrinsically Nationalistic? Jan VAN Bracr ‘STROKE FELLS KIYOHARA TANAKA, 87 _EX-LEFTIST, RIGHTIST LEADER DIES. epts of “becoming one ss without lef, right, or cen- 5 ONE OF THOSE WHO has a certain stake in the fortunes of the Kyoto school, Iam not unaware of the accusations raised agai pphers of complicity in Japan’s nationalism and its mi 233JAN VAN BRAGT introducing their thought x question squarely. On the der audience outside Japan should face the hand, the long years of personal involve: ment seem to compromise our judgment from the start. I confess that rarely, if ever, have T undertaken a scholarly task that has cost me as much soul. searching as this one has. I beg the reader to indulge my personal comments as find my way into the principal subject matter of ths essay, ‘THE SCOPE OF THE QUESTION fended to pass over the political t one is vaguely aware of but that in my case, the encounter of Christianity. Did the current brouhaha awaken me to a culpa- someone shaken by the feminist movement into realizing. ? Have I been wrong all along not to tween the “nationalistic stance” of the Kyoto jous thought? longstanding habi recognize the conn philosophers and their rel The Brander Contest Only after I had been invited to write on these questions did it dawn on me how important the question is, first because national issue for humanity as a whole, and secondly because the “nationalism” of the Kyoto philosophers is not simply a question about the past but equally a question about the present. Recent world events—mair astern Europe Sri Lanka and elsewhere—have once more illustrated disastrous effects of umankind, “The sin of pride ted from the sin- gular into the plural, from egoism into wha ina word, one might cal : Toynbee goes on to argue that curbing that coll the principal common task of all conviction that only religion can “provide the force to eradicate the deepest roots of the ‘ego’,”' the question then becomes: Is, afterall capable of doing the job on the col Toynbee, Christianity among the Relisons ofthe World (New York: Seribners Sons, * Nishicai Kei, MRE INSEL (View view ofthe nation), NKC 4:201 234 KYOTO PHILOSOPHY—INTRINSICALLY NATIONALISTICY the aid of the supposedly cool and rational thinking of philosophy, is re any match for the socal passions of an age? History seems to tellus that religion has indeed enabled cer viduals in time of natio egoisms. passions of it has more often provided the rallying cry—Gort mit uns. As Toynbee has it, “we are always relapsing from the worship of God into the worship of our tribe or of ourselves.” On the whole itis only ater the battles had been fought and pas- sions had cooled that religion was able to begin exercising its powers of rec- ontiliation. Itis good to keep this in mind when asking whether and to what degree the Kyoto philosophers kept their distance from the nationalism of the Showa period of crisis as a result of their philosophy (and religion), and what their teachings might possibly have done to stem the The qu Iso came to seem important to me because its scope extends beyond a mere “judgment” about the attitude of a group of wartime philosophers who have since died and should perhaps be allowed to rest in peace. The accusation raised against the Kyoto philosophers is not that they ‘were the original instigators ofa Japanese nationalism whose practical adven- tures brought untold suffering to other countries in Asia and was ultimately catastrophic for Japan itself. To the best of my knowledge, the point of the criticism is rather that their philosophy did not keep them from being into the prevailing whirlwind of nationalism, that it to “keep their heads” when people all about them were losing the rather turned them into accomplices insofar as they provided ratios for that nationalism. It seems to me that the more basic problem is this larg- cr Japanese nationalism, rather than any particular philosophical statement of it, and this at once lifts the critique of the Kyoto school out of the past and “A. Toynbee, Christianity among the Religions, 94 * Wang about the lf and character of Pope Joba Paul T, Peter Hebblethwaite has the fo: ‘owing to say: “During World War I his father heard propaganda tutes from Max Sele, the logis. Schelercisimed the Central Powers were defending, Christan nce ofthe understanding of such a background has been emphasized also