The Kyoto School and International Relations: Non-Western Attempts for a New World Order

Description

The Kyoto School and International Relations explores the Kyoto School’s challenge to transcend the ‘Western’ domination over the ‘rest’ of the world, and the issues this raises for contemporary ‘non-Western’ and ‘Global IR’ literature. Was the support of Kyoto School thinkers inevitable due to the despotism of military government, thus nothing to do with their philosophy, or a logical extension of their philosophical engagement? The book answers this question by investigating individual Kyoto School philosophers in detail. The author argues that any attempts to transcend the ‘West’ are destined to be drawn into power politics as far as they uncritically adopt and use the prevailing ontological concept of linear progressive time and dominant meta-narrative of Westphalia. Thus, to fully understand this problem, there is the need to be cautious of the power of language of Westphalia and the concept of time in IR. Aimed at students and scholars of IR theory, Japanese politics and East Asian IR in general, this book provides some introductory explanations of these academic subjects, developing a theory based on the concepts of time and language of Kyoto School philosophy. Cover Endorsement Page Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of Contents Note on Names and Translations Preface Chapter 1 Introduction Chapter 2 East Asian IR Revisited Chapter 3 Encounter, Transformation of Time and Self-Colonisation: The Japanese Modernisation Chapter 4 Nishida Kitaro and Tanbae Hajime: The First Generation of the School Chapter 5 The Transcendental Whole and ‘Inclusiveness’: The Discourse of the Big 4 Chapter 6 Miki Kisyoshi’s Philosophy of Imagination: Towards Everyday Life Chapter 7 Tosaka Jun’s Theory of Critical Relationality: Morality of Everydayness Chapter 8 The Reception of the Kyoto School Philosophy in the Post-war Era Chapter 9 Bringing Bodily Experience Back In Post-war Japanese IR Chapter 10 Conclusion: Towards a Mahāyāna Buddhist IR? Bibliography Index