Review of John W. M. Krummel, "Nishida Kitaro's Chiasmatic Chorology: Place of Dialectic and Dialectic of Place

Abstract

(ProQuest: ... denotes non-US-ASCII text omitted.)John W. M. Krummel, Kitaro's Chiasmatic Chorology: Place of Dialectic and Dialectic of Place Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2015. 314 pages. Hardcover, $60.00. isbn 978-0-253-01753-6.The present volume is an inspiring analysis of Kitaro's ... dialectics, the philosophical method developed and employed by the founder of the socalled Kyoto School. It is easily one of the most important English-language works on this pivotal philosopher and joins the ranks of James W. Heisig's Philosophers of Nothingness (2001) and Michiko Yusa's Zen and Philosophy: An Intellectual Biography of Kitaro (2002) as the must-read commentaries on philosopher who pioneered the practice and discipline of comparative philosophy and whose significance for philosophy in general is increasingly being recognized around the world.1 What makes Krummel's work stand out is that on the one hand, he focuses on philosophical method, and on the other explores it's relevance at the intersection of Continental and Buddhist philosophies.Krummel approaches the task of illuminating assertions regarding 'contradictory self-identity,' 'inverse correspondence,' 'continuity of discontinuity and 'self-negation,' which seem to shamelessly defy any allegiance to the logical law of non-contradiction (1) in steps: Part I, Preliminary Studies locates philosophy at the intersection of Continental and Buddhist philosophies; Part II, Dialectics in Nishida traces the development of philosophical method throughout his life work; and Part III, Conclusions, attempts an interpretation of philosophical method and system that is original and challenging (141). In all sections, Krummel takes utmost pains to stay on the difficult path between the Scylla of repeating enigmatic phrases without adding any interpretation or commentary and the Charybdis of venturing too far from the text to superimpose one's own philosophical beliefs every interpreter of is more than familiar with.In Part I, Krummel succeeds in locating project in its proper historical context and identifying a 'Buddhist metaphysic,' reformulated in the language of Western philosophy, hidden within formulations (165). Anyone familiar with knows that this claim is both appealing and problematic at the same time. On the one hand, clearly responds to philosophical problems and questions as formulated in Neo-Kantianism, and Nishida's texts in general, except for his last few essays are short on any direct references to traditional Buddhist sources (36). On the other hand, quite few of his later conceptual constructions seem to reverberate Buddhist insights to varying degrees.While he attempted to overcome the Kantian dualism, as he himself professed in his Intuition and Reflection in Self-Consciousness (Jikaku ni okeru chokkan to hansei , ... NKZ 2) , did so in his later work by suggesting middle path between substance and Plato's forms in his Fundamental Problems of Philosophy (Tetsugaku no konpon mondai ... NKZ 7) and between Spinoza's monism and Leibniz's monadology in Philosophical Essays Vol. 5 (Tetsugaku ronbunshu ... NKZ 10: 339-565). Krummel seeks the origin of philosophy in response to Aristotle's substantialism and NeoKantian as well as in Hegel's dialectical philosophy. It is clearly in the latter that found his inspiration.In chapter 2, Krummel examines the ways in which the philosophies of Madhyamaka, Yogacara, Tiantai, Huayan, and Chan/Zen Buddhist philosophers as well as D. T. Suzuki's reading of the Diamond Sutra have responded to dualism and substantialism. He focuses specifically on the concepts of emptiness (sunyata), the three natures (trisvabhava), the three truths (sandi . …