The Meaning of Japanese Philosophy: A Spanish Perspective

Abstract

Teachers and researchers of Japanese philosophy do their practice worldwide. Although the object of this study is very concise, and limited to boundaries that are always debatable, the range of discussion is global. I. e. “Japanese philosophy” must be practised with a holistic view in mind, as a signifier which points to something broader, from which it derives its possible meaning. This has to do not just with the fact that particular instances in the history of thought in Japan cannot be understood unless we relate them with occurrences in the history of Chinese, Indian or European thought, but also the issues under discussion are never strictly speaking Japanese, on the contrary they are part of broader, even global discussions. (The term “global” used in this context does not allude to the recent phenomenon of globalization, but is synonymous with “worldwide” or “holistic”). If this is the case, then we have in our hands an object of research which reveals a basic character of interrelatedness, to begin with. From this moment, we become aware of the inadequacy of trying to keep the limits of Japanese philosophy within Japan. We are not just pointing at the fact that the history of thought in Japan is much indebted to foreign schools of philosophy.