Kierkegaard and Japanese Thought

The Danish Philosopher Kierkegaard (1813-1855) is an enigmatic thinker whose works call out for interpretation. One of the most fascinating strands of this interpretation is in terms of Japanese thought. Kierkegaard himself knew nothing of Japanese philosophy, yet the links between his own ideas and Japanese philosophers are remarkable. These links were spotted quickly by Japanese thinkers and Japanese translations of Kierkegaard appeared long before English translations did. Yet, strangely enough, the Japanese relation to Kierkegaard has been all but ignored in the West. This book seeks to remedy this by bringing the Japanese interpretation to the West. Here, both Japanese and Western scholars examine the numerous links between Kierkegaard and Japanese thought while presenting Kierkegaard in terms of ShintAi, 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.

Table of Contents:
Preface; J.Giles Introduction: Kierkegaard among the Temples of Kamakura; J.Giles A Short History of Kierkegaard's Reception in Japan; K.Masugata Japanese Pure Land Buddhism and Kierkegaard; H.Yamashita A Zen Understanding of Kierkegaard's Existential Thought; E.Nishimura To Practise One Thing: Kierkegaard through the Eyes of DAigen; J.Giles Aeterno Modo: The Expression of Integral Consciousness in Kierkegaard and DAigen; I.Mills Truth, Paradox, and Silence: Hakuin and Kierkegaard; A.Graham Living with Death: Kierkegaard and the Samurai; A.Buben Kierkegaard and Nishida: Ways to the Non-Substanitial; E.Hanaoka The Religious Thought of Nishida and Kierkegaard; S.Tsukiyama Kobayashi's Spirit of Unselfishness and Kierkegaard's Faith; M.Mizuta Mori and Kierkegaard: Experience and Existence; M.Morita Otani: A Kierkegaardian Fellow of the Dead; K.Masugata

About the Author :
JAMES GILES is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Guam. He is author of The Nature of Sexual Desire, No Self to be Found: The Search for Personal Identity, A Study in Phenomenalism, and editor of Kierkegaard and Freedom and French Existentialism: Consciousness, Ethics, and Relations with Others. For more information, visit the author's homepage - http://www.james-giles.com

Review :
"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 ShintAi views of life, and that engage both classic Japanese figures such as DAigen 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