英文エッセイにトライ・・・３

I have received lectures about 『Being and Time』 written by Heidegger at a culture centre, but I cannot have a burning desire to apprehend what Heidegger described in it. One reason is that the teacher, who is a professor of the philosophy department of Nagoya University, does not admire the concept of this writing as philosophy. It is because he places more importance on Husserl, who influenced Heidegger, and probably because this book was incomplete. Heidegger left its Contents, so it seems that he completely planned the structure, but only the first chapter was published. The professor takes the position that 『Being and Time』 is not a philosophy book but a sociological book. He said that it could be very interesting and could provide a new perspective on thinking of human existence if it was read sociologically. Another reason of the lack of my enthusiasm is that I feel the book does not sit well with me. It does not give something important to me when I think as to how I should live in my own life. The fact that he was a western philosopher might explain my inattentiveness.



Heidegger brought the human context into the human existence which originally based on God in Christianity. I think it was formidable and laborious to be released from God who must have been the ultimate existence in the mainstream of western philosophy, but for me, as Japanese, not having held down on their head by monotheism, there never exists a God from whom I have to escape when I exclaim my own existence. What is more, I, who do not have the discipline which demands that humans should be the best creature in the natural world because they were made as a resemblance of God and thus should go closer to God and be admitted to heaven, can start off my own ideal lifestyle or ideal existence in anyhow I want. In short, I can skip “the project of freeing myself of God”.



In conclusion, I need to firstly consider Japanese thought to study myself. Western Philosophy is just knowledge, for me, to compare with Eastern Philosophy. The Western one starts from the pursuit of the truth with intelligence and reason. Next, it yields desire to thoroughly explicate the whole world in theory. This desire could have prepared a base where people argue that they are in the right. In other words, a new theory comes out and then the development comes out through the denial of that theory. On the contrary, the eastern principle is based on experiential knowledge. It requires a lot of time, effort and endurance, but the truth is nevertheless given. People gain the statistical truth that comes from observing traditional principles. Simultaneously, it is significant not to come into conflict with each other, and to keep transmitting these fundamental truths and experiences to the next generation in union. For Western Philosophy which tells us to argue it down, Eastern Philosophy has no opinion but to keep quiet.