Keiji Nishitani - Thought

Thought

Because the nature of Nishitani's philosophy was expressed more religiously and subjectively, he felt ideologically closer to the existentialists and the mystics, namely Søren Kierkegaard and Meister Eckhart, than to the scholars and theologians who were aimed at more objectively expressing their ideas. Nishitani, "the stylistic superior of Nishida," brought Zen poetry, religion, literature, and philosophy organically together in his work to help lay the difficult foundations of breaking free of the Japanese language in a similar way as Blaise Pascal or Friedrich Nietzsche. Furthermore, unlike Nishida, who had focused on building a philosophical system and who, towards the end of his career, began to focus on political philosophy, Nishitani focused on creating a standpoint "from which he could enlighten a broader range of topics," and wrote more on Buddhist themes towards the end of his career.