The German Idealist Conception of Freedom in Modern Japanese Philosophy: A Survey

This paper surveys the transmission of the German idealist conception of freedom to Japan during the Meiji period and explores its significance to the subsequent development of the Kyoto School of Philosophy. My discussion focuses on, first, mapping the context in which Kiyozawa Manshi first adopted the German idealist conception of freedom; second, showing how Tosaka Jun criticized Nishida philosophy as a disguised form of German idealism; and third, considering Nishitani Keiji’s rejection of the conception of freedom found in Western existentialism in favor of a conception anchored in Nishida philosophy. I show how none of these three philosophers rejects liberalism in toto, but how they reject one form to adopt another.