Tradition of Phenomenology in Tohoku University
（東北大学における現象学の伝統）
Au départment de
l’Université de Sendai, aux
philosophes qui m’y accueillent sous le signe
pacifique du Conflit des Facultés, en temoignant
de reconnaissance,
J. Derrida
Sendai, le 2 novembre 1983
Forthcoming event
Seminar in Phenomenology
第14回「現象学を語る会」のご案内
志向性と自己創造
―フッサールの定言命法論―
(Conducted in Japanese)
吉川 孝
Time: 17.2.2007, 3PM～
Venue: 907, Faculty of Arts and Letters, Tohoku University, Sendai.
Contact: Prof. Noe Shinya
Phenomenology was introduced into Japan
by Nishida Kitaro. [...] Nishida is the greatest figure in modern
Japanese philosophy, not only because of his founding of the Kyoto
school, but also through his broad influence on the philosophical
activities of this country in general. Scarcely any Japanese
philosopher of any originality has been uninfluenced by his thought.
This fascination seems to come from his deep insight into reality as
the ultimate unity that dominates through the multiplicity of world
phenomena. This unity is not a mere object of cognition, but rather
something that demands the whole personality of each observer. Perhaps
he attained his insight through his many years often practice in his
earlier years. Some of his poems (waka) reveal the purity and deep
innocence of his personality to us. He expressed the unity of universe
and personality initially by the phrase “pure experience” (junsui
keiken) and then, in his later thought, with special reference to
Plato’s chōra by the term “ seated field” (basho). This is the unity of
( anonymous ) consciousness and true Being. All oppositions and even
all contradictions are reconciled in this unity because all differences
always assume a unity. Nishida was so concerned to ascertain this unity
in phenomena that their differences were for him of only secondary
significance, at least compared with their unity. Coincidentia
oppositorum in various dimensions of experience was for him both an
ideal and a reality. Concerning such an ultimate unity, Sein and Sollen
are one and the same. This all - embracing character of his thought
gave it a kind of incomprehensible fascination. If phenomenology is a
way of searching for truth through various phenomena as they occur,
Nishida’s thought is quite phenomenological. “Truth must be nothing
other than reality as such.“
________________________________________
2. Tohoku University
Tohoku University was formerly called Tohoku Imperial University.
Founded in 1907, the first president was Sawayanagi Masataro (澤柳政太郎),
and the second president was Hojo Tokiyuki (北条時敬). School of Law and
Letters was founded in 1922, later transformed as Faculty of Arts and
Letters in 1949. There are three departments that have relationship
with phenomenology: department of philosophy, department of ethics and
department of aesthetics. Department of philosophy was established in
1922. There are three seminars: Philosophy I (History of Ancient and
Medieval Philosophy), Philosophy II (History of Modern Philosophy), and
Philosophy III (Contemporary Philosophy). The first chair professor of
“Philosophy I” was Ishihara Ken (石原謙), who studied the history of
Christianity. The first chair professor of “Philosophy II” was Oyama
Tomoe (小山鞆絵), who is a Hegelian. The first chair professor of
“Philosophy III” was Takahashi Satomi (高橋里美), who studied phenomenology
under Husserl.
Department of ethics was founded in 1923. The first chair professor was
Nisikida Yoshitomi (錦田義富). Department of Ethics has a tradition of
research in modern and contemporary philosophy. Nowadays, phenomenology
remains one of the research topics in the department.
Department of aesthetics was established in 1921. The first chair
professor was Abe Jiro (阿部次郎). Abe was born in Yamagata Prefecture. He
entered the “First High School” in 1901, and then enrolled in the
Department of Philosophy of Tokyo University in 1904. Studied under the
guidance of Prof. Raphael Koeber, Abe graduated in 1907 with a thesis
on Spinoza’s ontology. Abe was impressed with Soseki Natsume and
maintained good friendship with other Soseki-followers such as Morita
Sōhei, Komiya Toyotaka, Abe Yoshishige. He also was a friend of Watsuji
Tetsuro, but later Watsuji renounced friendship with Abe due to private
reasons. In 1914, Abe published a work entitled Santaro no nikki
(Santaro's Diary), which is a diary-style essay recording Abe’s path of
thinking and despair. With the support from young readers, it became a
bestseller and a sequel was soon published in the next year. At that
time, Abe established himself as a critic and became one of the editors
of Sichō in 1917. His position, known as personalism, is a rebellion to
Marxism and Nationalism. He emphasizes that the top of all value is not
the nation but in an individual person. In this sense, Abe joins
Mushanokōji Saneatsu (humanism) and Kuwagi Genyoku (culturalism) as one
of the most important representatives of the Taisho Democratic
movement. Abe’s interest is not only on personalism but also on
aesthetics. His view on aesthetics can be found in Basic Problems of
Ethics (1916) and Aesthetics (1917). Both works are clearly influenced
by Theodor Lipps’ theory of empathy. After offered a professorship in
1921, he became a research fellow of Monbushō in 1922 and traveled to
Europe to study aesthetics. After returning to Japan in the next year,
he became the professor of aesthetics at Tohoku University and wrote
Social Status of Art (1925), Art and Society in Tokugawa Period (1931,
a comparative research on Western art and ukiyoe.) and World Culture
and Japanese Culture (1934). After his retirement in 1945, he continued
his comparative research on Japanese culture, and he founded the Abe
Nihon Bunka Kenkyūjo (Abe Japanese Culture Research Center) in 1954.
Abe passed away at the age of 77 in 1959. The former site of Abe Nihon
Bunka Kenkyūjo in Sendai is now renovated as “The Abe Jirō Memorial
Museum” by Faculty of Arts and Letters of Tohoku University, where
there is a promenade called “Santaro’s road” in the campus. Besides,
there is also an “Abe Museum” in Abe’s hometown in Yamadera.
Tohoku Imperial University was famous for its “research first” and
“open-door” policies. One of the first female student was Takahashi
Fumi (高橋ふみ, 1901-1945), who was enrolled into the department of
philosophy in 1926 and graduated in 1929 from the department of ethics.
She later studied philosophy in Germany.
Eugen Herrigel (1885-1955) taught philosophy in Tohoku University from
1924 to 1929. In his work Zen in the
Art of Archery, he writes, “From quite some time ago it has
ceased to be any secret to an European that all the arts of Japan must,
in terms of their internal form, be traced back to the single common
root of Buddhism. This can be said of archery the same as it can be
said of the various other arts: ink painting, the tea ceremony, kabuki,
flower arrangement, swordsmanship, etc… Of course when we speak of that
which is particular to Buddhism, we are not speaking unconditionally.
The Buddhism referred to here is not that speculative Buddhism that in
fact only Europeans know, or think they know from the fact that its
texts seem to be easily available; it is the non-speculative Buddhism
called “Zen” in Japan.“
Karl Löwith (1897-1973) taught philosophy at Marburg University.
However, due to the outbreak of the war, he was forced to quit his
position. In Italy, he met Kuki Shuzo (九鬼周造, 1888－1941), who introduced
Löwith to teach philosophy in Japan. Fortunately, Löwith was
offered a teaching post in Tohoku University from 1937 to 1941.
Löwith returned to Germany in 1953 and became an important figure
in the postwar phenomenological movement.
________________________________________
3. Japanese tradition
in Freiburg
During the 1920s HAJIME TANABE, SATOMI TAKAHASHI, TETSURO WATSUJI, and
others visited Freiburg and heard lectures by Husserl , OSKAR BECKER ,
EUGEN FINK , and MARTIN HEIDEGGER . They returned to Japan to introduce
phenomenology in more detail and also tried more or less to criticize
and solve various problems from their own points of view . The
originality and high level of their accomplishments are still quite
remarkable today.
Takahashi Satomi (高橋里美)
Takahashi was the pioneer of phenomenological research in Japan. He
taught in Faculty of Science before moving to Faculty of Law and
Letters. He became a professor from 1928 to 1949, and was the president
in 1949. He was awarded as a Gakushiin Fellow in 1950. He is also one
of the first critics of Nishida Kitaro.
From Encyclopedia of Phenomenology
(pp. 368-369):
SATOMI TAKAHASHI of Tohoku University
in Sendai studied phenomenology in Freiburg during 1926 - 27 , about
the same time as Tanabe , and became the founder of the
phenomenological tradition at his university . His monograph Husserl no
genshogaku ( Husserl’s phenomenology , 1931 ) , is one of the earliest
comprehensive introductions of phenomenology in Japan . Moreover , his
article ' ' Genshogakutei kangen no kanosei , , ( The possibility of
the phenomenological reduction , 1930 ; cf. Zentai no tachiba [ The
standpoint of totality , 1 932 ] ) may be called one of the most
profound arguments ever dedicated to this theme . Concerning the
relation between the phenomenological EPOCHE AND REDUCTION and the
neutrality modification , he asserts , even contrary to Husserl‘s
opinion , that the latter is always involved in the former as a part of
it . In other words , the phenomenological reduction is the act of
reflection upon what is neutralized in its thesis of Being . The
iterability of the neutrality modification , which is denied by Husserl
, is admitted . Every being that is neutral - ized is founded by Being
in the condition ( Zustand ) of primal experience , which culminates in
eternal love . On the other hand , Takahashi denies the absolute
immanence of the stream of consciousness posited by Husserl in Ideen
einer reinen Phänomenologie und phänomenologischen
Philosophie I (1913 ) as the mere result of the latter ‘s metaphysical
assumption of Cartesian dualism . Takahashi was consistently interested
in the phenomenon of TIME and , through confrontation with HENRI
BERGSON , HEIDEGGER , WILLIAM JAMES , and Augustine , etc . , he
reached his own position ( Jikanron [ On time , 1953 ] ) . In his
opinion there are three possible views according to whether the pivot
of time is regarded as being ( 1 ) in the past , ( 2 ) in the present ,
or ( 3 ) in the future . Bergson holds the first , Heidegger and
Hermann Cohen ( 1842 - - 1918 ) hold the third , and St . Augustine and
FRANZBREN 執 No hold , if anything , the second . Takahashi does not
mention Husserl , whose position , however , seems to stretch over the
second and third views ．Takahashi himself claimed to take no exclusive
position . He accepted not only the time that starts from the future
and past , but also the one that either flows from the present over
into past and future or arrives at the present from both opposite
directions simultaneously . Among such times centering upon the present
he discriminates ( 1 ) the intellectual ( reflective ) ' ' thin ' '
present and ( 2 ) the emotional ' ' thick ' ' present . The latter
embraces both future and past tightly in it - self , the most eminent
example of which is the present residing in love .
Below is an introductory note on Takahashi Satomi, written by Noe
Shinya.
Takahashi Satomi (1886-1964) is a
representative systematic philosopher in modern Japan who ranks with
Nishida Kitaro and Tanabe Hajime. He is known as the first to recognize
the significance of Nishida’s maiden work A Study of Good. He was both
the greatest appreciator as well as the keenest critic of Nishida and
developed his own system of metaphysics which stands comparison with
that of Nishida. He consistently defended his metaphysical standpoint
throughout his life and took a firm stand not only against Nishida
philosophy, but also against Marxist philosophy, the totalitarianism in
the war period, and the shallow rationalism in the postwar period.
Takahashi was born on November 28, 1886 at Yonezawa City (Yamagata
Prefecture). After finishing the Yonezawa Middle School in 1904, he
entered the First Higher School (Tokyo) in the same year. After
graduating from the same in 1907, he went on to the Tokyo Imperial
University at which he majored philosophy, graduating in 1910. At the
university he attended the lectures given by Raphael Koeber, Inoue
Tetsujiro, Hatano Seiichi and others and took interest in the
philosophies of Kant, Spinoza, Hegel, etc. His graduation thesis was on
the monadology of Leibniz. In this thesis he tried to describe and
criticize systematically the philosophy of Leibniz and, as a result,
his fundamental philosophical standpoint was already established.
After graduation he was enrolled at the graduate school of the
university and studied the theory of space of Kant and more widely the
theory of space in general. During that time he published an article
criticizing A study of Good by Nishida (1912) and a translation of
Matter and Memory by Bergson (1914). On the other hand, he had an
interest in neo-Kantianism and phenomenology which were popular in
Japan in those days, and especially sympathized with the Marburg school.
In 1915 he took the post as a teacher of German at the Sixth Higher
School (Okayama). While teaching German he studied mainly pragmatism.
In 1919 he was transferred to the Niigata Higher School where he taught
German and logic. In 1921 he was appointed assistant professor at the
department of science of Tohoku Imperial University and lectured on
philosophy of science, especially on philosophical theory of number. In
this lecture he owed much to the mathematical logic as well as the
theory of number expounded in Neo-Kantianism. In addition, he lectured
on introduction to philosophy and on modern philosophy at the newly
established law and literature department of the same university as
part-time lecturer, later as assistant professor. In these lectures and
seminars he used Logic by Cohen, Ideas and Logical Investigations by
Husserl. Thus the philosophy of Marburg Neo- Kantianism and
phenomenology became his chief concern.
In 1925 he went over to Germany, United Kingdom and France for two
years as a research fellow of the ministry of education. At Heidelberg
University he attended lectures given by Rickert, and came to
appreciate the Southwest German school of Neo-Kantianism (philosophy of
value) more highly than ever. Then he moved to Freiburg and studied
under the guidance of Husserl. His Phenomenology of Husserl (the first
monograph of Husserl in Japan) was written on the basis of lectures and
seminars given by Husserl at that time.
Returning from abroad in 1928, he became professor of philosophy at the
law and literature department of the Tohoku Imperial University and
devoted himself to the study of theory of time and ontology as well as
epistemology. He took up Bing and Time by Heidegger in his seminar for
several years. On the other hand, he could not be indifferent to
Nishida philosophy and Tanabe philosophy which were leading of the
philosophical circles of Japan. He also took up again critical study of
dialectic by going back to Hegelian origin.
While he was influenced by various schools of philosophy in Europe,
America and Japan, he found that none of them gives him full
satisfaction. He endeavored to establish his own ontology by
criticizing those schools theoretically and felt that he had reached a
satisfying conclusion to a certain extent. His standpoint is that of
“The ultimate Being” which includes and transcends the dialectic
movement. He believed that his standpoint encompasses various
standpoints of philosophy from ancient to modern times. He also tried
to make critical study of the character of oriental culture, especially
of Japanese culture.
Since 1937 he was appointed three times to the head of the law and
literature department of the Tohoku Imperial University. In 1947 he was
appointed to the president of Yamagata Higher School but resigned next
year and retired into his native city of Yonezawa. However in 1949 he
was elected to the president of the Tohoku University and, after
reelected to the same post three times, resigned in 1957. He was then
granted the title of professor emeritus of the Tohoku University. He
also was conferred the degrees of doctor of literature in 1948 and was
elected to a member of the Japanese Science Council in 1950. After
resignation from the presidency of the Tohoku University, he retired
from public life and moved to Tokyo. In 1964 he died of cancer at
Tokyo. His complete works (7 volumes) were published by
Fukumura-shuppan in 1973. His main works are as follows:
Phenomenology of Husserl (1931)
Standpoint of Totality (1932)
Experience and Being (1936)
Epistemology (1938)
History and Dialectic (1939)
A System Which Includes Dialectic (1942)
Essence of Philosophy (1938)
My Philosophy and My View of Life (1951)
Theory of Time (1953)
Miyake Goichi (三宅剛一)
Miyake taught in Tohoku University (Dept. of Science) in 1943 and
became a professor in 1946. He taught phenomenology, especially its
relationship with human existence.
In 1930, he visited Freiburg and attended Husserl’s Seminar, Fink’s
private class, Heidegger’s lecture, Becker’s note on Sein und Zeit,
etc. He also visited Berlin in 1931 and Paris in 1932.
Moved to Kyoto University (1954-1958), he was also a critic of Nishida
Kitaro. He returned to Freiburg University and gave a DAAD Talk about
“50 years of Japanese Philosophy.”
Major works:
“Heidegger’s Philosophical Position” (1934)
Form of Science and Natural World (1940)
History of Mathematical Philosophy (1947)
Heidegger’s Philosophy (1950)
History of Philosophy in 19th Century (1951)
Human Existence (1966)
Moral Philosophy (1969)
Essay on Aesthetics (1974)
Theory of Time (1976)
From Encyclopedia of Phenomenology
(p. 369):
GOlCHI MIYAKE , who studied In Freiburg
during 1930-31 and later taught at Sendai and Kyoto , ex - pressed an
elemental doubt about the validity of the Husserlian epoche . Referring
to some portions of Formale und tranzendentale Logik ( 1929 ) , where
the naivete of TRUTH and EVIDENCE becomes progressively apparent ,
Miyake says : ' ' Here this gradual realization which Husserl called
painful but inevitable stands involved in the depths of transcendental
subjectivity , leaving a profound anxiety . Husserl thought it possible
to overcome this gradual realization , but if we consider it frankly ,
are we sure of this ? ' ' ( Heidegger no tetsugaku [ Heidegger’s
philosophy , 1 950] ) .
Miyake reports that during his stay in Freiburg he asked OSKAR BECKER
and even Husserl about this point and also pondered it himself in
manyways , but he could not gain clarity . Miyake found the phenomena
of horizon and TIME becoming the foundation of Husserlian phenomenology
. In these , the living Being of the philosophical truth could be found
, combining the static and the dynamic , the finite and the infinite .
But an ' ' anxious , ' relativity and naivete emerges here in the to -
be - concluded but never - ending process that becomes the fundamental
phenomenon of philosophical reasoning . This is an extreme situation
for the phenomenology of REASON . But insofar as phenomenology stands
upon reason , it will be impossible to lessen this crisis by re -
course to a more fundamental ground . Miyake asks in the face ofthis
impasse : ' ' Should not philosophy stand upon a more original ' truth
, than scientific truth ? , , The fertile accumulation of
phenomenological studies in the 19305 by the thinkers mentioned and by
others was not continued smoothly and without interruption by their
successors . The disruption in the tradition caused by World War II was
grave . From the end of the war until the beginning of the 1960s ,
Husserl’s phenomenology was known chiefly as the forerunner or
background of Heidegger ‘s and JEAN-PAUL SARTRE ‘s ontological thought
, and was rarely the proper theme of study . But together with the rise
of the name of MAURICE MERLEAU - PONTY and the Introduction of Husserl
‘s later thought , interest in this common ancestor of EXISTENTIAL
PHENOMENOLOGY was awakened , and the renaissance of Husserl’s
phenomenology in Japan during the 19705 followed . Since then several
phenomenological thinkers of originality have emerged , among whom
three may be mentioned .
Nitta Yoshihiro (新田義弘)
Nitta is one of the key figures in phenomenological movement in Japan.
Research topic: Phenomenology of Husserl, Fink, Nishida Kitaro, etc.
________________________________________
4.
Researchers of Phenomenology in Tohoku University
Hosoya Tsuneo (細谷恒夫)
Research topic: Husserl
One of the translators of Die Krisis der europaischen Wissenschaften
und die transzendentale Phanomenologie.
Hosoya Sadao (細谷貞雄)
Research topic: Heidegger
One of the translators of Sein und Zeit.
Kiba Jinzo (木場深定)
Research topic: Heidegger
Takiura Shizuo (滝浦静雄)
Research topic: Merleau-Ponty
Kamei Yutaka (亀井裕)
Research topic: Scheler, Heidegger
Kozuma Tadashi (上妻精)
Research topic: Hegel, Heidegger
Kida Gen (木田元)
One of the co-editors of Encyclopedia of Phenomenology (Japanese). Tsuda Jun (津田淳)
Research topic: Scheler
Iwaya Makoto (岩谷信)
Research topic: Kant, Scheler
Shino Kenji (篠憲二)
Professor, Department of Ethics
Research topic: Phenomenology
Noe Keiichi (野家啓一)*
Professor, Department of Philosophy
Research topic: Philosophy of Science, Phenomenology
Naoe Kiyotaka (直江清隆)*
Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy
Research topic: Philosophy of Science, Phenomenology
Toshima Kiyoshi (戸島貴代志)*
Associate Professor, Department of Ethics
Research topic: Phenomenology
(* Current staff of Department of Philosophy / Department of Ethics,
Tohoku University.)
________________________________________
5. Academic activities
American and Japanese Phenomenological Society (日米現象学会)
1st meeting: 1996
2nd meeting: 1998
International meeting for Husserl studies
The fourth international meeting for Husserl studies in Japan (Tohoku
University)
Program:
Saturday, 20 November 2004
Opening Lecture: Elmar Holenstein: Natural Ethics
Yukiko Okamoto (Tokyo Kaseigakuin University): Computability of Meaning
Tom Nenon (Memphis): Husserl's Conception of Reason as Authenticity
Sunday, 21 November 2003
Shinji Hamauzu (Shizuoka University): Husserl und das sich
organisierende System
Wataru Wada (Hannan University): Self-Constitution of the Stream of
Consciousness and Passivity in the Bernau Manuscripts
Ivan Blecha (Olomouci): Der Begriff der Lebenswelt in der
Phaenomenologie Patochkas
Husserl Abend
It is an annual event with a scholar presenting a paper concerning
phenomenology.
Last meeting on 10th June 2006:
Speech by Goto Yoshiya (後藤嘉也)
Seminar in Phenomenology (現象学を語る会)
Organisor: Noe Shinya (野家伸也), Professor, Tohoku Institute of Technology
(Research topic: Phenomenology)
1st meeting: Report by Cheung Ching-yuen (張政遠)
2nd meeting: Report by Kajio Yuji (梶尾悠司)
3rd meeting: Report by Naoe Kiyotaka (直江清隆)
4th meeting: Report by Noe Shinya (野家伸也) and Cheung Ching-yuen (張政遠)
5th meeting: Report by Nishioka Keiko (西岡けいこ)
6th meeting: Report by Taguchi Shigeru (田口茂)
7th meeting: Report by Yokochi Norihiro (横地徳広)
8th meeting: Report by Omori Fumihiro (大森史博)
9th meeting: Report by Takeda Junro (竹田純郎)
10th meeting: Report by Yokochi Norihiro (横地徳広)
11th meeting: Report by Sato Shun (佐藤駿)
12th meeting: Report by Lau Kwok-ying (劉國英)
13th meeting: Report by Aratani Daisuke (荒谷大輔)
________________________________________
6. Reference
Encyclopedia of Phenomenology.
『現象学事典』、弘文堂、1994.
『東北大学大学院文学研究科・文学部の現況』、東北大学文学研究科、2004.
『現代思想：総特集 現象学』、青土社、2001年12月臨時増刊.
