Customer Reviews

Philosophers of Nothingness: An Essay on the Kyoto School (Nanzan Library of Asian Religion and Culture)

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"Philosophers of Nothingness" is everything the leaders in the field of modern Japanese philosophy say it is, and more. Although I approached the book expecting to find it full of exotic jargon, I was surprised to find the philsophical language familiar and the presentation easy to follow. Heisig writes with a style that must be the envy of his colleagues: clear, engaging, and with fluency that pulls you along through even the most difficult material. His decision to isolate the technical material into notes written in prose style makes the book still more accessible to readers who might otherwise be frightened off by references to the vast amount of Japanese resources that lay behind the book.
Translations into English of the three philosophers that he treats--Nishida, Tanabe, and Nishitani--are numerous enough, but picking them up without sufficient understanding of where they are coming from caused many of us no end of confusion. Thanks to Heisig, we now have a general matrix in which to fit their ideas. The challenge of the Kyoto School to "Western" philosophers has never been more evident. If there is one complaint I have, it is that Heisig did not include a translation of the preface that Raimon Panikkar, the celebrated Catalan philosopher, wrote for the original Spanish edition of the book.

Heisig's work attempts to summarize the entirety of the three main Kyoto school philosophers. The summaries range from alright to bad. He glosses over terms quickly and doesn't explore any depth nor does he point out points of controversy. Even though these are summaries, they seem fairly vapid. It doesn't help that many of the works discussed are not available in English. The capstone for the book is when he talks about why these philosophers aren't studied much. One can't help but think this is the thing he got most correct. They don't fit into most phil. departments and they don't fit into most East Asian studies departments. This book doesn't seem fit for an intro course nor does it seem fit for a focused seminar. Unfortunately, Heisig's book is forgettable.