Recent Japanese Philosophical Thought: 1862-1962, A SurveyGino K. Piovesana

Excerpt

There would seem to be no special need to justify the publication of this survey, given the fact that no single comprehensive study covering the last hundred years of Japanese philosophical thought has appeared in a Western language. The book by Tsuchida Kyōson is too old, and out of print besides, while the more recent work edited by Kōsaka Masaaki is a history of thought in general up to 1912. If we exclude a few sketchy articles, no adequate introduction to recent Japanese philosophy exists.

A justification is required instead to explain the nature of this book, which is called a “Survey”, and does not pretend to be a history of philosophical ideas in Japan. The unassuming subtitle is not due to special modesty, but to the fact that for the moment nothing more could be done. Even in Japanese there is no standard work continuing the pioneering historical investigation of Asō Yoshiteru which treated the development of philosophy in Japan during the first decade of the Meiji period (1868-1880). Unfortunately, although many books on Japanese thought have been printed after Asō, he has had no real successor, partially because pre-war writers were too intent on explaining the “spirit” of Japan, and in the post-war years, the stress is on a social, if not Marxist, history of ideas.

Revised edition, 1968. 296 pages
Hardback. [Out of print]