An Inquiry into the Good

by Kitarō Nishida

An Inquiry into the Good represented the foundation of Nishida’s philosophy—reflecting both his deep study of Zen Buddhism and his thorough analysis of Western philosophy—and established its author as the foremost Japanese philosopher of this century. In this important new translation, two scholars—one Japanese and one American—have worked together to present a lucid and accurate rendition of Nishida’s ideas.
 


"The translators do an admirable job of adhering to the cadence of the original while avoiding unidiomatic, verbatim constructions."—John C. Maraldo, Philosophy East and West










"More accurate and critical than the first translation into English of Nishida's earliest book. . . . An important addition to library collections of twentieth-century philosophy, Japanese intellectual history, and contemporary Buddhist thought."—Choice 

"A welcome new translation of a work by probably the most original and influential of modern Japanese philosophers."—Hidé Ishiguro, Times Literary Supplement 
 
"Undoubtedly the most important work for anyone in the West interested in understanding modern Japanese thought. This work premiered Japanese philosophy as modern but has also shown unusual staying power. In the late twentieth century Japanese thinkers, both religious and secular, insist on its importance and relevance."—William R. La Fleur, University of Pennsylvania

Genres: Philosophy, Japan, Nonfiction, Buddhism, Religion, Japanese Literature, Zen

218 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1911

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don’t think I expected to like this book as much as I did. It was definitely a change of pace from the more polemical style of philosophy you get out of the western thinkers Nishida often name drops. Whereas they tend to present their arguments in reaction to competing schools of thought, An Inquiry Into The Good is presented more like a broad survey of philosophical trends that he draws from wherever he can find insight to support his unifying project: to ground a conception of ethics in the metaphysics of “Pure Experience”.

The book’s structure unfolds in a similar way to Spinoza’s Ethics, starting with a metaphysical discussion of reality as rooted in “Pure Experience” where subject and object are one, then moving on to a kind of psychology of consciousness, before exploring the question of “The Good”, and ending on the topic of religion and God. But Spinoza isn’t the only western thinker Nishida engages with in this highly syncretic text. Hume, Hegel, Leibniz, Augustine, Christ, and even Goethe and Wilde among others figure throughout; though I get the sense he was most influenced by Spinoza and Hegel and possibly most in tension with Kant. However, Nishida doesn’t just draw on the West for material; Eastern thought, especially Zen Buddhism, is ever operating in the background. Though, I’m not as read up on that aspect so I can’t comment much. Nishida writes clearly and in a straightforward manner that never assumes of the reader too much familiarity with the philosophers he mentions, making it an accessible read.

[Owlseyes · Rating 4 out of 5]

“It is commonplace for people to claim that Nishida’s philosophy is a philosophy of artistic impressions (geijutsuteki kansō 芸術的感想) or religious contemplation (shūkyōteki taikan 宗教的諦観)”
Yanagida Kenjūrō, 1939

Nishida's letter: "in Heidegger there is a ‘being-towards-death" but there is no ‘being-born-into".
[Of course, Kitaro could not imagine a 21st century philosopher like David Benatar, one antinatalist...]



My heart has such depth,
neither the waves of happinness
nor sorrow can reach there
(February 20th, 1923)

Kitaro was pretty much influenced by western philosophers, he knew (read) well. He kept, though, his Japanese view (influenced by Zen).

[Hagar · Rating 4 out of 5]

"...in actuality there is only one true good: to know the true self. Our true self is the ultimate reality of the universe, and if we know the true self we not only unite with the good of humankind in general but also fuse with the essence of the universe and unite with the will of God-and in this religion and morality are culminated. The method through which we can know the true self and fuse with God is our self-attainment of the power of the union of subject and object. To acquire this power is to kill our false self and, after dying once to worldly desire, to gain new life. (As Muhammad said, heaven lies in the shadow of the sword.) Only in this way can we truly reach the realm of the union of subject and object, which is the ultimate meaning of religion, morality, and art. Christianity calls this event rebirth, and Buddhism calls it kenshō. Ас-cording to one story, when Pope Benedict XI asked Giottos to show him a work that demonstrated his ability as a painter, Giotto simply drew a circle. In morality, we must attain to Giotto's circle."

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was probably the hardest book I have ever read. I might as well been reading it in the original Japanese. I felt it is definitely worthwhile, but I am not familiar enough with philosophy to fully comprehend Nishida. He takes the European philisophers and then changes them to fit the Eastern Philosophies.

[Corey Schuck · Rating 5 out of 5]

"It is not that there is experience because there is an individual, but that there is an individual because there is experience. The individual's experience is simply a small, distinctive sphere of limited experience within true experience."

[Harm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Argh! Such a peculiar book. I read it over the span of many months, and didn’t really get into it. Eastern thought expressed in Western language. Very difficult to follow at times. Though as far as I can judge it’s quite good. And somehow I can’t wait to read it again, to gain a better understanding. Some previous knowledge of both Eastern and Western philosophies really helps. Check the index at the end to see which philosophers are most discussed. And GOOD LUCK!

[Chant · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the second time going through this book and I'm happy that I took up proper western philosophy and continued my eastern philosophy readings because it helped greatly in getting a better understanding of Nishida's train of thought.

If you have a grounding in western philosophy, eastern philosophy (in particular Zen Buddhism) then I think it'll have some fruitful contribution to a person's philosophical views.

I now need to tackle Nishitani.

[Karl Hallbjörnsson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This work has a „philosopher's debut“ vibe to it — because it actually is, of course — but there are many very interesting arguments and points that Kitaro makes here. I'm looking forward to reading more of his work and understanding his concept of 'place' better.

[Mē-chan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Really bad. Constant use-mention errors don't help. Prejudicial view of science and adherence to concepts like human nature and essentialism in favor of religious sentiments is there to slap you on every page. This book is unsuccessful attempt at combining mainly German Idealism, James' pragmatism and Zen Buddhism. It doesn't quite work out. The amount of sheer nonsense I have read here is astounding for one of the greatest Japanese philosophers. Just one of the "perls of wisdom":
"Some scholars think that certain simple, independent constituents - such as the atoms expounded by atomists are fundamental reality. Such constituents are abstract concepts formulated for the sake of explanation, and they cannot actually exist." (Chapter 9).
There you have it, atoms are abstract concepts that don't exist. Somebody should tell the scientists.
I have read Art and Morality by Nishida and that was a decent book, that was actually interesting and had a unique approach to the topics mentioned in the title, but this is....really, really bad book.
I'm taking into account that Nishida wrote this in couple of years before 1911, but the constant and blatant prejudice toward the science of even his time in favor of religion is astounding.

[Derrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I encountered this book in another book called "Zen and Western Thought." I had always wondered what a synthesis of Zen and western rationalism would look like.

The Kyoto School of philosophy, of which Nishida was a founding member, is an interesting combination of the western tradition and Zen.

I'd recommend this book if you're interested in such subjects. I'd also recommend it if you think Japanese philosophy lacks originality or is completely non-existent. Not so.

Be prepared for slow-going reading, however. One of the many paradoxes of Zen, is that something so easy, can be pretty difficult. (James Austin was asked a similar question on why/how he could write 600 pages on Zen, on a subject that by defintion defies defintion. Zen teaches you to live with contradictions.)

[Nick Colaccino · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well that was a doozy... I highly recommend this book to anyone willing to run a mental marathon!

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting, clearly-written perspective on the nature of the self and reality, drawing upon Western thought, religious parables, and Zen Buddhism. Great segue into modern Japanese philosophy.

[Joeri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nishida shows a profound knowledge of Western philosophy and synthesizes it with Eastern and Buddhist thought. The main argument of the book is that subject and object are falsely considered to be seperate, since they are both sides of the same, one reality which we can experience directly when we realize the unifying aspect of consciousness that lies beneath it and when it corresponds to the unifying force in nature, which results in objective knowledge, which is one with volition and feeling, expressed in our will.

Other philosophies, the author argues, see consiousness as passive and as seperated from objective facts, while on the contrary it is our consiousness that unifies and manifests all reality.

It is living in accordance to this reality that should be exhibited in good conduct.

Nishida critiques also the main disciplines in ethics, stating that it is not intuition, reason or consequences that represent the good, but acting in accordance with direct experience, meaning we should forego the self and all its subjective assumptions and realize everything is part of one consciousness.

The arguments of Nishida are in some sense original and offer a nice alternative to some dominant epistemological and ethical schools of thought, yet in my view they at the same time contain a lot of metaphysical assumptions which I sometimes had a hard time to comprehend. Perhaps more knowledge of Eastern and Buddhist thought would have helped with that.

[Cian Pearce · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's a lot to say about Nishida's philosophy. I will start by saying I enjoyed parts 2 and 3, and not so much 1 and disliked part 4. From the introduction, it is clear that parts 2 and 3 were written first and it holds the most novel parts of his philosophy.

Nishida much like Heidegger makes ontological claims about metaphysics without much more evidence, other than stating they're equal; whether you agree with them or not will affect how you experience the writing. However, his conclusion in part 3 is that "there is only one true good - to know the true self" (page 145). The claim is one where you cannot take the prerogative and say, 'no that is not a true good, you shouldn't look for the true self'. It comes off as very gym bro-y, "we will all make it" type of deal.

Now for the bad, part 4 is super religious and like polemic, if you already have a pre-established view on religion, this text won't change your mind at all; it either reinforces your faith or alienate the reader. Nishida makes claims such as "those who do not sin cannot truly know the love of God" (page 172). I overall found it funny, although took away from the first three parts of the book.

Overall, the book wasn't a bad read by any means. But I found the book by googling 'Japanese modern philosopher' and bought the first result for Japanuary 2023, so literally went in blind without even knowing who the author was or what the book was about.

[Xochi Flores · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent starting point for those interested in Nishida. This is his early work, and his later work transforms concepts such as Pure Experience in more nuanced directions than what you find here. However, Nishida offers us an array of aphorisms, similar to what you get in Spinoza's Ethics, that brings forth interesting questions on German Idealism and existentialism that are unique to the Kyoto School of Philosophy( to some degree, not trying to convey the kyoto school as a monolith).

[zoe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quyển sách đúng sang, đọc và thấy mở mang rộng lớn hẳn. Trải nhiều phương diện nghe như thiền, triết, tâm lý học. Có thứ offer rộng hơn cả mong đợi ban đầu ở tựa đề về Cái Thiện. Đánh thức và gợi mở. Và chính vì vậy không thể mong hiểu tường tận mọi ngóc ngách mọi câu trả lời rõ ràng.

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent synthesis of Buddhism and Christianity. Kindle book from a PDF that didn't convert properly.

Finished 90% in January, finished in June 2026.

Book discovered by reference from Thomas Merton.

[Neal Javia]

Great stuff. Very similar to the Upanishads, the non-dualist schools, and the rest of Indian philosophy

[Emil Andersen · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was fun to give Japanese philosophy a try

[David Potsubay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Second time reading it. This book fundamentally changed how I have understood spirituality, the universe, and my place in it.

[Juraj · Rating 5 out of 5]

For a student of Western philosophy this survey of Western philosophers from a Japanese, namely Zen, perspective is indeed interesting. Nishida starts with Western metaphysics and ends with ethics, sprinkling East Asian as well a some South Asian religious and philosophical approaches, and ending in a synthesized or more accurately assimilated version of these approaches, known as the Kyoto school.

[Tye Patchana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as in-depth as I had thought it would be given the reviews. There are some interesting points that show consciousness in a new light. Some points seem to be handled better than others, however. An introduction to Zen is required, I think, to fully appreciate Nishida's concept of pure experience.

[Eugen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Schopenhauer looms large here. Whatever was in the air in the first decade of the 20th C. in Germany, it wafted its way to Japan. This is an interesting book, no less for the fact that Schopenhauer might have been more of a Buddhist than Nishida in some respects.

[Sarsha Geo · Rating 5 out of 5]

善の研究・・・ですね。

[twrctdrv]

agree?