Pure Experience and Transcendence Down

Abstract

This chapter introduces aspects of the philosophy of Kitaro Nishida that are of clear importance for educational thought and practice. Nishida is writing within the mainstream of Western conceptions of philosophy, but he brings to this a perception and insight that is distinctively Japanese. He rejects the dualisms that have structured so much thinking within that mainstream, including the familiar dichotomizations of fact and value and subject and object. The highly original notion of ‘pure experience’ that he develops in response becomes the basis for his conception of critical thinking. Central to his views are his accounts of nothingness and place, and the discussion explores these in terms of their resonance with, and difference from, similar notions that arise in Heidegger and Derrida. Further comparisons are made in relation to his account of a kind of ‘transcendence downwards’. In conclusion some remarks are made about the ways that his philosophy has been influential in thinking about education, and some tensions in its interpretation in this respect are suggested.