ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces Nishida Kitaro's explication of experience and clarifies the meaning of the philosophical engagement by putting his philosophical concepts and logics into the political context. It introduce the philosophy of Tanabe Hajime, another leading figure of the Kyoto school who was Nishida's colleague and probably the harshest critic. The chapter concentrates on Tanabe's argument of species and Metanoetics although his writings were purely philosophical. However, equally important in understanding Nishida's texts is the fact that he also frequently cited Western philosophers' arguments, even more than he did Buddhist ideas. The philosophers who inspired Nishida in this era include, at the very least, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Kant, Spinoza, Nietzsche, Bergson and James. Subjectivity and identity are therefore the result of the changes in relationships with others. To be more precise, new relationships occur in every moment, and they construct subjectivity.
