ABSTRACT
Hajime Tanabe, one of so-called Kyoto School philosophers of modern Japan, explores his own unique Triadic Logic of Species in the form of dialectic as the foundation of his whole system of thought. Even though Tanabe derived his idea of Absolute Nothingness from his teacher Nishida, he rejected Nishida's version of Absolute Nothingness. Tanabe's Triadic Logic of Species refers to distinction between absolute universal as genus and relative universal as species. Tanabe identifies Absolute Nothingness as eternity. Hereby universality of humankind is realized and manifested in the form of cultural phenomena. The notion of radical evil comes from Kant, according to whom human nature has the irrevocable tendency toward evil, inherently lurking at the ground of human existence. This reveals Tanabe's deep insight into the ideal state of world religions in the coming era. Tanabe may have been influenced by Marxist socio-historical practice, oriented toward the reformation of the state to stress sociopolitical action rather than contemplation.
