Watsuji Tetsurō
A human being is not an isolated individual but exists in the space between people, shaped by climate and culture.
Placement
Ethicist of “betweenness”: the human being (ningen) exists in relations; against Heidegger’s focus on time he stressed space and climate (fūdo).
Key ideas
- Ningen as betweenness
- Climate and culture (fūdo)
- Ethics as study of human relations
Influence
Influenced by 3
Dōgen
influenced by
Watsuji’s essay ‘The Monk Dōgen’ (Shamon Dōgen, in Nihon seishinshi kenkyū, 1926) presented Dōgen, until then read mainly within the Sōtō school, as a philosopher. Watsuji Tetsurō, “Shamon Dōgen”, in Nihon seishinshi kenkyū (1926); SEP “Watsuji Tetsurō”
Evidence: AI draft
Dōgen › 1200–1253
Søren Kierkegaard
influenced by
Watsuji followed his Nietzsche book with a study of Kierkegaard (Zēren Kierukegōru, 1915). Watsuji Tetsurō, Zēren Kierukegōru (1915); SEP “Watsuji Tetsurō”
Evidence: AI draft
Søren Kierkegaard › 1813–1855
Friedrich Nietzsche
influenced by
Watsuji’s first book was a study of Nietzsche (Nīche kenkyū, 1913), written before he turned to Japanese culture and to ethics. Watsuji Tetsurō, Nīche kenkyū (1913); SEP “Watsuji Tetsurō”
Evidence: AI draft
Friedrich Nietzsche › 1844–1900
Criticism
Criticizes 1
Martin Heidegger influenced by
influenced by ✓
Watsuji adopted the hermeneutic analysis of existence from Being and Time but shifted it from the individual to betweenness (aidagara) in Ethics as the Study of Ningen (1934). Watsuji Tetsurō, Ningen no gaku to shite no rinrigaku (1934); Fūdo (1935); SEP “Watsuji Tetsurō”
Evidence: also in Wikidata · Wikidata
criticised
Watsuji, who read Being and Time in Berlin in 1927, objected that Heidegger privileged time and the individual over space and human relations shaped by climate (Fūdo, 1935). Watsuji Tetsurō, Fūdo (1935), preface; tr. G. Bownas, Climate and Culture, 1961; SEP “Watsuji Tetsurō”
Evidence: AI draft
Martin Heidegger › 1889–1976
Works
Begun after reading Being and Time: human existence is spatial as well as temporal and takes shape in monsoon, desert and meadow climates.
Position
Watsuji’s ethics starts from the word ningen, written with the characters for “person” and “between”: humans always exist in relations, in “betweenness” (aidagara). Ethics is the study of these relational orders, in which individual and community negate each other within an underlying emptiness of Buddhist origin. In Fūdo he objected that Heidegger privileged time over space and described how monsoon, desert and meadow climates shape cultures – a typology criticised as deterministic. He also rediscovered Dōgen as a philosopher. His ethics culminating in the state and wartime writings on reverence for the emperor have been criticised as supporting nationalism; after 1945 he revised but did not abandon these views.
Life & context
Watsuji Tetsurō, a physician’s son, was born in 1889 near Himeji. He studied philosophy in Tokyo and wrote early books on Nietzsche and Kierkegaard before turning to Japanese culture, as in his Pilgrimages to the Ancient Temples in Nara. He taught in Kyoto from 1925, read Being and Time while in Germany in 1927–1928, and held the chair of ethics in Tokyo from 1934 to 1949. He died in 1960.
Further main works
- Ethics as the Study of Man (Ningen no gaku to shite no rinrigaku, 1934)
- Ethics (Rinrigaku, 3 vols, 1937–1949)
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