Reviews for Identity and the Moral Life

The average rating for Identity and the Moral Life based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2019-08-21 00:00:00 John Casnig i give this (5) stars simply because Nishitani is one of the few qualified thinkers/intellectuals to have genuine insight into both the Western existentialist and eastern Buddhist philosophies. Need i mention that he was an actual student of Heidegger? (See: Kyoto school...) So in this way, and for these reasons, he is a true gift to those seeking clarification on how to "do" existentialism, (meaning, to make it more of a praxis than merely an abstract theory). Consequently, he offers Westerners a glimpse into existentialism's Eastern parallel; e.g., the Buddhist theory of emptiness, (which is meant to transcend mere reflection by achieving experiential realizations in much the same way). In sum, by offering this kind of guidance and/or insight into some of the West's most profound thinkers (e.g., Nietzsche, Kierkegaard; Dostoevsky and Heidegger), Nishitani demonstrates how philosophy can itself become a spiritual practice. More importantly, perhaps, he directs one through the "angst" (and/or "unheimglischt,"(forgive the sp.)--e.g.,Derrida's expression for "feeling out of home" within one's own body, or person),that one is likely to experience via engaging in such existential (or analytical)meditations. Hence, Nishitani delivers the much needed guidance (and/or abridges the gaps between Eastern and Western philosophies) that the above mentioned existential authors themselves fail to provide.

Review # 2 was written on 2015-06-28 00:00:00 Graham Astor Well, hot damn! That was a good read. A fantastic little book on Nihilism and it's associated thinkers; Nietzsche, Dostoevsky, a little bit of Kierkegaard, Heidegger, and Stirner (which I was very surprised by!), and their thought in regards to Nihilism. I would like to add more onto this comment on the book, but I'm afraid I'm not the great at giving a summary or a critique. I however will say that this book isn't well known outside outside of Japan, as I'd imagine many people in western philosophy/comparative literature departments haven't heard of the Kyoto School of philosophy, let alone Keiji Nishitani. 2019: I finally have a copy of my own after all these years and I must say that Nishitani's explanation of Heidegger's "ontological difference" is one of the clearest I've read! I still stand by my original "review"! Read this book!