Kyoto School Philosophy of a Multipolar World
* Article / conference presentation: The Kyoto School's Wartime Philosophy of A Multipolar World (Telos April 2022). By John Krummel. 2022 Telos--Paul Piccone Institute Conference
Abstract
"Presentation made at the 2022 Telos -- Paul Piccone Institute Conference:
- "Civilizational States and Liberal Empire--Bound to Collide?", held April 2022 in NYC, NY:
The presentation will focus on Kyoto School philosophy’s “philosophy of world history” and its arguments for a multipolar world order in opposition to the older Eurocentric and colonialist world order. The idea was articulated by the second generation of the Kyoto School — Nishitani Keiji, Kōyama Iwao, Kōsaka Masaaki, and Suzuki Shigetaka — in a series of symposia held during World War II (1941~42) known as the “The World-historical Standpoint and Japan.” While rejecting on the one hand the myopic patriotism of the ultranationalists, they argued for a view to the world and its history, that in contrast to the Eurocentric view to world history, was polycentric. In terms of world politics they associated their view with the aim to construct a co-prosperity sphere in East Asia of autonomous nations to counter European colonialism as part of a new polycentric world order. Metaphysically this notion of a co-prosperity sphere as well as of a polycentric world was grounded in the Kyoto School’s concept of “nothingness” as an open space for autonomous but corelated subjects. While these discussions have been under fire by post-war critics, especially the Left, for its association with Japanese imperialism, I will examine the potential viability of these ideas today as we look to the emergence of a polycentric world without a single hegemon, a world that ideally would give space to difference and diversity and avoid the violence of homogenization. A comparison of the Kyoto School with Jean-luc Nancy in this regard may provide some clues."