Marx after the Kyoto School

Showing key connections between Marx’s oeuvre and Buddhist thought, this book demonstrates connections between Marx and Nishida Kitaro, who many consider the key Japanese philosopher of the Kyoto School of Philosophy, the first modern philosophers in Japan.

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Nishida Kitarō (1870-1945) is considered Japan’s greatest modern philosopher. As the founder of the Kyoto School, he initiated a rigorous philosophical engagement with Western philosophy, including the work of Karl Marx. Bradley Kaye explores the political aspects of Nishida’s thought, placing his work in connection with Marxism and Zen. Developing concepts of self-awareness, Basho, dialectical materialism, circulation, will, nothingness, and the state. Nishida’s thought offers an ethics of personal will that radical awakening that offers clarity in a seemingly hopeless world.