Nishida Kitaro. An Inquiry into the Good. Part IV, Chapters 1–2 /Translation from Japanese, Introductory Article and Commentaries by S. Kapranov
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Abstract
The publication presents the Ukrainian translation of chapters 1–2 of the fourth part of the work Zen-no kenkyū (Investigation of the Good) by Nishida Kitaro, a prominent Japanese philosopher of the 20th century, the founder of modern Japanese philosophy. The fourth part of the work is devoted to the concept of religion. In Chapter 1, Nishida analyzes religious demand. According to Nishida, religion has psychological roots, not social or economic ones. Therefore, he devotes his analysis of religion to this root – a demand, whose satisfaction requires going beyond the material world and turning to God. Nishida calls such a demand religious. He considers it the deepest, most fundamental need of the human soul, from which all other needs arise. This is the need for unity of consciousness and at the same time for unity of the Universe. Chapter 2 is devoted to the problem of the essence of religion. Nishida defines religion as the connection between God and man, with the philosopher understanding God as the basis of the Universe, and man as primarily his consciousness. True religion according to Nishida is the path of radical transformation of man. Considering various theological and philosophical approaches to the connection between man and God, Nishida takes the side of pantheism and turns to the ideas of Spinoza. Nevertheless, Nishida insists that God is personal, because only a personal God can be loved. Only in this case is a deep essential kinship of man with Him possible and the achievement of the highest goal of true religion – the merger of man with God, a new spiritual birth of man. In the chapters offered to the reader, Nishida actively refers to Western sources, primarily religious texts (the Gospel of Matthew, the Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Galatians, as well as Bishop Westcott’s commentary on the Gospel of John), philosophy (Spinoza, Condillac), mysticism (Jacob Boehme), religious studies (William Robertson Smith). From Eastern sources, Nishida quotes the Japanese Buddhist book Tannisho.
How to Cite
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Japan; Japanese philosophy; Kyoto School; Nishida Kitaro; pure experience
Нісіда К. (2026), “Дослідження блага. Частина ІІІ, глави 12–13. Переклад з японської, вступна стаття та коментарі С. В. Капранова”, Східний світ, № 1, c. 261–270. DOI: https://doi.org/10.15407/orientw2026.01.261
Böhme J. (1612), Aurora oder Morgenröte im Aufgang, режим доступу: http://12koerbe.de/lapsitexillis/auro-19.htm (дата звернення: 4.05.2026).
Condillac E. B. de. (1754), Traité de sensations, T. I, De Bure l’aîné, Londres et Paris.
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The Gospel According to St. John (1892), The authorised version with introduction and notes by B. F. Westcott, John Murray, London.
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西田幾多郎 (2001), 善の研究, 岩波書店, 東京.
REFERENCES
Kapranov S. V. (2014), Sinto u sotsiokulturnykh transformatsiiakh XIX–XX st., A. Yu. Krymskyi Institute of Oriental Studies, Kyiv. (In Ukrainian).
Nisida K. (2026), “Doslidzhennya blaha. Chastyna IІI, hlavy 12–13. Pereklad z yaponskoi, vstupna stattia ta komentari S. V. Kapranova”, Shìdnij svìt, No. 1, pp. 261–270. (In Ukrainian). DOI: https://doi.org/10.15407/orientw2026.01.261
Böhme J. (1612), Aurora oder Morgenröte im Aufgang, режим доступу: http://12koerbe.de/lapsitexillis/auro-19.htm (дата звернення: 4.04.2026).
Condillac E. B. de. (1754), Traité de sensations, T. I, De Bure l’aîné, Londres et Paris.
Dilworth D. (1987), “Introduction: Nishida’s Critique of the Religious Consciousness”, in Nishida Kitaro, Last Writings: Nothingness and the Religious Worldview, Univesity of Hawai’i Press, Honolulu, pp. 1–45.
Smith W. R. (1894), Lectures on the Religion of the Semites. First Series. The Fundamental Institutions, Adam and Charles Black, London.
Spinoza B. de. (1915), Ethica ordine geometrico demonstrata, Gius, Laterza & figli, Bari.
Spinoza B. de. (1891), The Chief Works of Benedict de Spinoza, Translated from Latin with an introduction by R. H. M. Elwes, Vol. II. De Intellectus Emendatione – Ethica, George Bell and Sons, London.
The Gospel According to St. John (1892), The authorised version with introduction and notes by B. F. Westcott, John Murray, London.
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Shinteki Seisho (1944), Nihon Seisho kyōkai, Tokyo. (In Japanese).
Nishida K. (2001), Zen no kenkyū, Iwanami shoten, Tokyo. (In Japanese).
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