On Nothingness in the Heart of the Empire and the Wartime Politics of the Kyoto School

Abstract

ABSTRACT In this review essay of Harumi Osaki’s book, Nothingness in the Heart of the Empire, about the Kyoto School’s wartime political philosophy, I examine the arguments and claims behind Osaki’s thesis that the Kyoto School tends to align itself with nationalist and imperialist formations that lead to political concerns. I focus on some of the concrete problems with her arguments, including the book’s lack of examination of the sociopolitical context behind and surrounding the philosophers’ wartime discourse. These problems result in a one-sided or unbalanced image of the Kyoto School, lacking nuance and painting complex grey areas in black and white.