Theory of Place Predicate and Individualization In Japanese Philosophy from Nishida to Izutsu

Abstract

Identity of human beings is not substantial, nor solid, but variable. In the course of transferring self-recognition, Western philosophy has been introduced into Japan and this factor which made an essential change of self-awareness and representation in Japan, has been playing an important role. Understandably, thinkers in Japan grasp and represent their worldview in a state of modernity differently than before. In other words, they grounded their way and expression of thinking in the midst of modernization through rethinking their traditional terminology and rhetoric in a more univer-salized framework. Some representative thinkers, who philo-sophized from such a point of view, thematized the problems of place, predicate, and individualization in a new way. Focusing on the modernization challenge of philosophers in Japan, in this study, I deal with prominent figures like NISHIDA Kitaro, SUZUKI Daisetsu (or Daisetz) Teitaro, HISAMATSU Shin’ichi, SUETSUNA Joichi, NISHITANI Keiji, and IZUTSU Toshihiko. Among these, I would like to pay special attention to the theories of Nishida, Suzuki, Nishitani, and Izutsu, since they are very influential thinkers, who created wider philosophical discourses in the philosophical milieu in Japan