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VOL.S
SUMMER, 2004
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Copyright 2004
ISSN 1531-5533
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Matteo Cestari
I. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS
In this paper 1 will deal with the problem or art in the thought of
:Nishida Kitaro (1870-1945), the I11m;t important modem Japanese
philosopher. He dedicated only a few pages of his Icngthy complete
. works I to this argument, sincc his interests mainly conccntrated on
,ontology and epistemology. However, some essays on this matter are stili
available and here l will particularly consider four writings: Ceijutsu lO
dotoku (Art and Morality, 1923), Sho no bi (The Beauty ofCalligraphy,
. 1910), Cete no haikei (Goethe's Background, 1931) and finally Rekishiteki
fkeisei sayo toshite no gcijutsutek.i sosaku (The Artistic Work as the
Formative Activity of History, 1941).2 Thc last cssay qlloted herc is by far
the most representative or the cntire Nishida corpus, given the provisional
character of GD and the small size of the other writings. Looking at his
"philosophical career, we can detect a change From monism to plurdlism,
from spiritualism to a theory of complexity centere<! on the concept of
'''historical world," conceived as an interrelated network of relationships,
in which the hurnan being, interpreted as historical body (rekishiteki
shilltui). lives and dies. In his aesthetics the therne of activity hus always
been important, but its meaning changes, together with his conception of
;.art: from the early volllntarism to an anthropologic and fonnalist acsthetics.
'Some scholars tend lo minirnize these differences. 3 However, CD is not
\ 2 CeijuIsu lo d610ku (NKZ, 111: 239-524; engl. tram;l. Art and Morulily, by D.
':'!:;"
176
CESTARI
PROBLEM OF AESTHETICS
41n this sense, I agree with Di/wonh (1973: x) who affirms thal "Nishida's latci
writings were partly a self criticism of [.,.] Art and Murality..: against Heisig';_
statement that there is no stage of dcvt:lopment in Nishida's inlellectual history
1Heisig 2001: \04).
Now in NKZ IV. On the Logic of Piace, see Cestari (in print). Jikaku ni okeru,..
(NKZ Il) is translated as: lntui(ion and Rej1ec:/ion in SelJ-Consciuu.~ness, by V. H. ,
Viglielmo, Takeuchi Yoshinori and 1. S. O'Leary, (New York, SUNY Press,.
1987). pp, 204.
Tathandlung is the activity (Handlung) and the Thing (Tat), which comes rrom"
il. Il is the core of the identity of thc Self. Il was especially its charactcr or"
activity that attraclcd Nishida, who intended lO use Fichte beyond Fichle: "[ ..,)
what drovc me since the bcginning was noI anylhillg like FichlC'S consciousnes~ ..
I would say thal my slandpoinl overcomes lhe Fichlean I. and rathcr il is ...:
posilion thal precedes il" (NKZ IX: 3).
\77
1
7
W. Benjamin, Das Kunsrwerk im Zeitalter seiner
Reproduzierharkeit (Frankfurt a.M,: Suhrkamp Verlag. \955).
technischen
,.
,;-
178
PROBLEM OF AESTHETICS
CESTARI
or
171.}
as for the entire Ky6to School. 8 CIl is very dependent on this lype of
logicisrn.
Here only Goethe's neociassic poetry is considered, while the
sturmer period is significantly absent. This choice is coherent with the
philosopher's intention of emphasizing the hannony belWeen individuaI
and the world, eternity and time, totality and the particular. Goethe's
humanistie panthcism, in which the individuaI is not annihilated by the
Absolute, but hannoniously accords with it, fits particularly wel1 with
Nishida's intent of emphasizing human individuaI and activity.9 It is not
too diflicuh to recognize Nishida's Logic of PIace behind this
interpretation of Goethe:
"Contrary (lO Spinoza], Goethe's pantheism thoroughly
embraces the individuaI too. Goethe's nature does not negate
the individuaI, but it fonns il. It must be a kind of infinite
space (mugen no kiikan) that, without having form, fonns what
has form." (NKZ XII: 142; /49)
This "infinite space without form" is another way of calling the
Piace of Absolute Nothingness, the key concept of the Logic of PIace.
Nishida also uses it in order to discern bclWeen Orientai and Western art:
while in the East the background (haikei) is an important part of an
artwork, Western art is essentially focused on fonns (eidos) (NKZ XII:
139; /46).10
IlSU
PKOHLEM Of AESTHETICS
CESTARI
181
"I
,II
I
II
,II
much must be leamed from Western culture, "thal identifies the form (eidos) with
Being" (NKZ IV: 6).
Il However, it must be noted that some traits remain almosl unchanged between
periods. This is the case ofNishida's evalualion ofpoerry. In CH, Iyrical poetry
(jojoshi) is the formless voice of life, based on intuilion (cholckan) (NKZ XII:
143-144; 151). Similarly, in historicism poetry is stili the art formpar eIce//ence.
Il is defined as the freesl of the arts, being Ihe vision of the true reality of the
world (NKZ X: 246-247). It is worth noting however that in RS Nishida criticizes
Konrad Fiedler's idea thal linguistic expression moves from an "interior world,"
since linguislic expressive activity too must be understood from the position of
the historical body (NKZ X: 231). This criticism could also be applied lo his early
posilion. For a detailed analysis of Fiedler-Nishida relalionship. see Takanashi
1996.
12
The fundamenlal relationship with Ihe world is practical: the human being
creates things (pofesis), while being created by tbem. In facl, more than a
Subject, the human being is a bodily existence that has a body. That the
human being is a body means tbat it is reducible to the world and can be
explained on the basis of scientific laws. At the same time, however, it
uses its body as a tool, producing art and conceptual knowledge. Nishida
explains art as a movement of abstraction from active intuition, due lo an
'aclive impulse to abstraction' (chiisho sayoleki shodo), or 'artistic
intUition' (geijulsuleki chokkan). 13 Through this activity, lhe world
detennines itself in individuals, concretizitg in the manifold forms of art
(yoshiki or kalachi). These forms are the paradigrns of our historical and
social behavior: in them, the world reflects its own image (sugala), as well
as the individuals who are points of self-projection of the world (sekai no
jiko shaeilen) (NKZ X: 193-194). Art has no external aim, except its inner
artistic will l that gives rise to a plurality of forms, according to peoples,
ambient artistic trends, and individuals. Moreover, it is independent from
philosophy or science. Il is parallel to conceplual knowledge, and il is
based on the production of historical self, which at the sarne time is a
product of tbe historical world (NKZ X: 216-217). Artistic intuition is not
simply instinctual or unconscious, less than ever irrational. On Ihe
contrary, since it is an expression of the world, it has at the same time a
uni versaI value, being "a form of the historical life" (NKZ X: 228). Its
expression is activity; ils inner logic is to be found in the practical acts of
the artists and in their artworks. In representation, i.e. in artistic abstraction,
our body becomes a tool. This idea is essential for dance, but also for
figurative arts: in the act of painting or sculpturing, the artist becomes the
brush or the chisel that he is using (NK.Z X: 236-237). This conception of
art particularly stresses tbe performing aspect of artistic expression,
implying that there is an artistic knowledge, which, altbough abstracting,
is essentially practical and physical. Or better, it implies that arI is an
abslraclion whose /anguage is praclica/ and bodily.
As we shall see, this idea is directly drawn from Wilhelm Worringer's (IR81
1965) cooception of Abstralaionsdrang (impulse IO abstraclion).
I)
182
PROBLEM OF AESTHETICS
CESTARI
un
1lS4
CESTARI
PKUHLEM OF AESTHETICS
16 HarrilOlt chink, 'chet; in order lo obtain something. prehistoric man did noI pray
~rtrNd.th~~drt>menon.
": ';;:~~nd'SCjcnccaim to takc control over naturaI forces, even if starting from
:r,;r}{." ~",iOOs),A.it begms when pubhc actors and artwork are c1early dlsllngulshed from
;~'."",. "ihc;mununality 01' the primeval deed, in which tbe entire community takes part
~Sec
185
l B6
PROBLEM OF AESTHETICS
CESTARI
187
NKZ X: 260. In Formprobleme der OOlik, the Gennan scholar c\aims lhal
Gothic could be considered as a third position belwcen the geometrical torm or
primilive and Orientai art and the organic fonn or classical art (CilCd in NKZ X:
21
261).
22
~o Nishida
affinns thal certainly Ise tempIe has been built in that way because or
the moisture and heavy rain Ihat characlerize Japanese c1imate. In lhis, there is
almost a "malhematic correlation" with climate (NKZ X: 239). However, hc
almost equalizes this particularity lO individuai difference. In racl., he quotes nn
anecdote by A. L. Richter, according to which three friends decide lo painl the
same landscapc as realistically as possible, but they creale three complclcly
differenl painlings (ibid.). This passage could be read as a criticism againsi
Watsuji Tetsuro's crypto-delenninisl and culturalist conceplion offiido.
188
PROBLEM OF AESTHEnCS
CESTARI
or
189
WORKSClTED
Cestari, Matteo. "The Knowing Body. Nishida's Philosopby of Active
lntuition (Koiteki chokkan)," The Eastem BucJhist, 31:2 (1998):
179-208.
- - o "Beyond Oppositions. Negation and Modemity in Nishida's Logic
of PIace", in Arisaka Y6ko, and others, eds., Nishida and the
Question oJ Modemity. Albany: SUNY Press (in print).
Dlworth, David. "Translator's Preface", in Nishida Kitar6, Art and
Morality. Honlulu: University ofHawai'i Press, 1973. Pp. vi-xi.
Heisig, James W. Phi/osophers oJ Nothingness. An Essay on the Kyoto
School. Nanzan Studies in Religion and Culture. Honolulu:
University ofHawai'i Press, 200 I.
Huh, Woo-Sung. "The Philosophy of History in the 'Later' Nishida: a
Philosophic Turn," Phi/osophy East and West, 40:3 (1990): 343-374.
Takanashi, Tomohiro. "Geijutsuron toshite" no Nishida tetsugaku
Nishida KitarO no tai Fldorli kankei wo megune--" [The Philosophy
of Nishida as "Theory of Art" -About Nishida Kitar6's
Relationship with Fiedler], Bigaku [Aesthetics], 47-2 (1996): \3-22.
Yoshioka, KenjirO. La visione artistica di Nishida Kitaro (Nishida
Kitar6's Artistic Vision], in G. Vianello, M. Cestari, K. Yoshioka,
La Scuola di Kyoto. Soveria Mannelli: Rubbettino, 1996. pp. 105
148.
190
PROBLEM Of AESTHETICS
CESTARI
191
LlST OF CHARACTERS
Scientific abstraction
(Affumalion of pasl1future)
Negation of the present
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