SOURCE: '"Inverse Correspondence' in the Philosophy of Nishida: The Emergence of the Notion," in International Philosophical Quarterly, Vol. XXXII, No. 3, September, 1992, pp. 325-44.

In the following essay, Abe discusses the major tenets of Nishida's philosophy, particularly that of "inverse correspondence. "

Translator's Introduction

Some commentators on Japanese culture find it useful to restrict the term "philosophy" to the work of those Japanese thinkers whose work has been influenced directly by western systems and categories of thought. Philosophy in this sense is less that 150 years old in Japan. The work of Kitaro Nishida (1870-1945) marks the first sustained attempt at a critical synthesis of western and eastern thought. The article by Masao Abe that follows here in translation addresses the origins of the term "inverse correspondence" (gyakutaio) and its relationship with some of the key elements of Nishida's philosophical system. For those unfamiliar with the work of Nishida, this...