Seminar Series: Abstract

A Critical Consideration of the Relationship between the Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere and Nishida Kitarô’s Political Philosophy
Satofumi Kawamura

The Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere, originally called Dai-tôa-kyôei-ken in Japanese, is notorious as an ideology to justify the aggressive war waged by the Japanese Empire for the emancipation of Asia from the Western imperialism and racism. Meanwhile, Nishida Kitarô is one of the most eminent philosophers in modern Japan, but highly controversial because of his involvement with the War and ideology: he participated in the committee to give advice on the war-time policy-making and drafted the basic concept of the Great East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere. Nishida was a professor of philosophy in Kyoto Imperial University and his philosophy had and still has very broad influence: the ontological characteristic of his philosophy is frequently compared to Heidegger’s ontology. The main concern of this project is to examine the relationship between Nishida and the Co-prosperity Sphere in terms of his political philosophy and one principle of modern Japanese politics. In other words, it is aimed at elucidating what could have let Nishida support the Co-prosperity Sphere, through the consideration of the kind of political principle that could make it possible to envisage the Co-prosperity Sphere, particularly focusing on what is the relationship between Nishida’s political philosophy and the political principle.