Nothingness Beyond God: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Nishida Kitaro [Paperback]

Robert Edgar Carter (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 17, 1998

When we hear the term "Japanese philosophy" we think of Zen Buddhism or the Shinto scriptures. Yet one of the great 20th century interpreters of Western philosophy, Nishida Kitaro, lived and wrote in the Japanese islands all his life, laboring at an ultimate synthesis of oriental thought and Western hermeneutics. To be sure, Nishida's aim was to understand his own cultural influences in relation to the Western world. What distinguished him, however, was his passion for rendering oriental metaphysics understandable in the language of Western philosophy, and his attempts to contrast the paradoxicality of Buddhist logic with the logical strategies of Aristotle, Kant, or Hegel. Featured in this book is an interpretation of Nishida's writings. Professor Carter focuses on the Japanese thinker's notion of "basho," a concept of nothingness as field, place or topos as borrowed from Plato's Timaeus. Expounding on the logical foundations and archaic elements in Nishida's work, and carefully explaining Nishida's critical approach to the questions of God, religion and morality, and pure existence, this discerning book offers students of Western philosophy and oriental thought alike a highly readable introduction to the teachings of a true world philosopher.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"I want to express my feeling of admiration for the work. I think it will be very helpful as an introduction to the West of Nishida's philosophy and, thus as a gateway to East-West dialogue." --Jan Van Bragt, Nazan Institute for Religion and Culture

"Carter's work fills an important niche in Nishida scholarship by providing, in clear and concise language, the best introduction to Nishida's philosophy... Japansese scholar Thomas P. Kasulis has written a superlative ten-page forward that is worth the price of admission all by itself...an extensive bibliography and index...well organized. I anticipate that Carter's book will become a popular university textbook chosen by teachers of Japanese philosophy and the Philosophy of Religion. Indeed, I would recommend that scholars who are looking to include a "comparative" element...seriously consider choosing Nishida's philosophy, and Carter's text in particular."--David Edward Shaner, Furman University

"Those who reflect about philosophy and religion should like what Robert E. Carter has done in this book. He has engaged with perhaps the most important of modern Japanese philosophers...It is what cross-cultural philosophy should be."--Ninian Smart

"This work will serve as a valuable reference both for those seeking a grounding in a significant contribution to human thought in the 20th century and for those wishing to situate some key themes which repeatedly appear in East-Western Buddhist-Christian dialogue."--Ruben L. F. Habito, Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Paragon House; Second Edition edition (April 17, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1557787611
• ISBN-13: 978-1557787613
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #655,991 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Something to Say About Nothing, June 20, 2001

By 

Allen M. Reid (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nothingness Beyond God: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Nishida Kitaro (Paperback)

Carter's "The Nothingness Beyond God" is a beacon that opens up for discovery new possibilities of a meaningful dialogue between Eastern and Western philosophical traditions. Dedicating a chapter to each developmental stage, the book clearly illuminates the evolution of the philosophy of Nishida Kitar . Initiating the inquiry with the concept of pure experience, Carter deftly, yet with eloquent brevity, extricates the essential elements of Nishidan thought from a complex of the philosopher's writings. Carter demonstrates how Nishida never lost sight of his founding concept, pure experience, while he continued to tender increasingly more elucidated refinements that saw the genesis of the Logic of Basho and the concept of Self-Contradictory Identity. The refinement eventually produced a philosophical stance which he called The Dialectical World of "Acting Intuition", and of which this edition offers a substantially expanded exegesis. But Carter does not rest here, he suggests that issues of religion, morality and ethics, in short of value in general, can be, and indeed must be, tied to an understanding of the essential unfolding of the individual, without which, these concepts, lacking a form for expression, would be essentially empty.. In other words, what Carter sees as groundbreaking in Nishida is an insight that offers an ontology that can participate in the resolution of contemporary world issues. Ecology and environmental issues now become deep issues that are inseparable from our own well being. In what has clearly secured itself as a masterpiece of comparative philosophy, its contemporary relevance has additionally advanced the endeavour to bridge the gap between East and West. Yet, one of the more salient features of "The Nothingness Beyond God" is its range of accessibility. It is equally stimulating for the neophyte as well as the seasoned comparativist, in that its accessibility does not come at the expense of scholarly exactness. Well done.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Much Ado About Nothing, November 24, 2006

By 

Jerry Larock (Peterborough, ON CAN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Nothingness Beyond God: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Nishida Kitaro (Paperback)

In The Nothingness Beyond God, Robert Carter, from a Western perspective and using a comparative approach, provides a detailed exposition and analysis of the philosophy of Nishida Kitaro, a major Japanese philosopher of the last century. This book represents a significant introduction of Nishida's philosophy to the West, and is considered to be preeminent in the field.

Carter pursues the central theme of 'nothingness' by elaborating on a number of Nishida's major concepts, including `pure experience,' the `logic of Basho' (place), `self-contradictory identity,' `action intuition,' and the relationship between religion, morality, values, ethics, and feeling.

While extremely important, Nishida's works does tend to be rather difficult. Since this particular book is an academic publication intended primarily for an academic audience, it should come as no surprise that some of the material can be challenging. Nevertheless, while expounding a most difficult subject, the book remains highly readable and is full of compelling insights into the Oriental perspective in general, and Japanese philosophy in particular, insights that are accessible to virtually anyone willing to put forth some effort.

As a long-time student of Oriental philosophy, I whole-heartedly recommend Carter's book to those with a similar interest. This is a powerful book which is well written and likely to make a significant contribution to the reader's appreciation of Eastern culture.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars good and bad, February 8, 2005

By 

J. M. Dunn (Nagoya, Japan) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Nothingness Beyond God: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Nishida Kitaro (Paperback)

For myself, this was a very interesting and informative book. Carter attempts to lay out the philosopy of Nishida Kitaro in a graspable fashion... no easy task... I must say, however, that I was only able to slog through this book because of my own interest in the subject... Carter could have seriously used a good editor, although I expect it must have been difficult to find an editor who was sufficiently ruthless and at the same time sensitive to the difficulty of what Carter was trying to do, let alone wrap his or her brain around the subject... a more closely edited version of this book could have been great... as it is, the stark contrast between the quality and clarity of Thomas Kasulis' forward and the body of the book reflects poorly on Carter.
As I said, however, the book's got a lot of good stuff to offer, and stuff that I have not been able to find elswhere (although I have yet to read the several more English language books on Kitaro that have come out since this)... It has a lot of good stuff to offer IF you can get to it...
The book does, however, have one unexcusable flaw: Chapter Seven. In chapter seven, Carter suddenly shifts from abstract-to-the-the-point-of-being-incomprehensible to "concrete", by relating his discussion to an idealized "Japanese" world in a way that is as... er... bizzare... as it is fanciful. He seems wrapped up in a weird picture-postcard view of "the Japanese" (a term he beats utterly to death) that, for me, utterly undermined the authority of his arguments. By the time he quoted James Clavell's "Shogun" (albiet in a footnote) to illustrate the importance of non-intellectuallized "pure experience" to "the Japanese", I was ready to throw this book in the trash. I didn't, however, and got a lot of good food for thought, or rather, perspectives on thought and non-thought, from it.