Western Roots of Kyoto School

Kyoto School as the only Japanese contemporary philosophy combines the Eastern ideas such as Zen Buddhism with the Western philosophical ideas including those of Hegel, Nietzsche, and Heidegger. From this view, it is a philosophy that stands beside other great world philosophies (including Platonism, Hegelianism, and existentialism). Nishida Kitaro, the founder of Kyoto School, and his two famous disciples, Tanabe and Nishitani, have incorporated Eastern and Western ideas together and then introduced their own philosophies for the world. But the main aim of this article is to introduce Kyoto School briefly, and to present the Western roots of the school. Among the other branches of Western philosophy, Hegelianism, Kierkegaardianism, Nietzscheism and Heideggerianism are the most influential schools which have been integrated into the works of Japanese philosophers. Although, Nishida, Tanabe and Nishitani have been influenced by four Western philosophies, yet Hegel and Heidegger for Nishida, Kierkegaard for Tanabe and finally, Nietzsche for Nishitani play an important role in their thoughts. Therefore, the most important finding of this study is that Kyoto School contains Buddhist and mystical elements as well as philosophical ideas. It can be said that this school is a synthetic philosophy.