Nishi Amane - Legacy

Legacy

Nishi Amane is considered to be the father of Western philosophy in Japan. Nishi was a tireless advocate of Western civilization as a role model for Japan's modernization, stressing the need to evolve without losing the 'Japanese character'. He was responsible for using classical Chinese terminology to translate and/or transmit common terms used in Western Philosophy into Eastern dialect, and many of these philosophical words are currently in use today. By using classical Chinese terminology, that is, something of cultural importance and tradition to Meiji Japan, Nishi was able to generate enthusiasm for reform, as traditional Chinese characters were seen by the Eastern population as a notion of authority. Furthermore, it is the nature of Chinese characters to be combined in various ways to form neologisms, as the characters often obtain multiple meanings and are capable of interchangeability. The most notable term that Nishi was responsible for is the term tetsugaku (in Japan, or zhexue in China), which he coined in 1873, taken from the characters meaning “wisdom” and “learning." Tetsugaku is the first known recording of an Eastern term representing the notion of philosophy, which Nishi referred to as “the study of human nature and the principles of things.”;); tetsugaku means “to love and seek wisdom,”, and was derived from the classical Chinese term kitetsugaku, which means “to seek clarity,” or “clarification of wisdom and virtue.” (Zhexue, in Chinese, more specifically means “learning to become a wise and knowledgeable person.”) Though Nishi felt that Confucius for the East was comparable to Socrates for the West, in creating this term tesugaku, Nishi was actually attempting to separate the notion of Western philosophy from the notion of Eastern thought, as he believed the two to entail two different things. Moreover, Nishi did not concur that philosophy even existed in the East, as he studied philosophy solely in the context of the Western style. However, regardless of Nishi’s personal beliefs on the definition of “philosophy”, it is still because of him that China and Japan have even been able to engage in the discourse of “philosophy.” In Hyakugaku Renkan, Nishi concluded that because the discourse of philosophy is innately concerned with addressing and attacking theories of past writers and philosophers in order to portray new discoveries, the field of philosophy is constantly being made over. Under this light, Nishi opens up the possibility of vast Eastern participation in the discourse of philosophy, regardless of whether or not Eastern thought can be reconciled with Western Philosophy. During his time, Nishi concurred that although the West was superior in the realm of philosophy, the East still had the means to become better equipped in philosophy, as he professed that philosophy was essetntial for making the East intellectually modernized.

He was honored on a 10-yen commemorative postage stamp in Japan in 1952.