Bulletin > Volume 50 Being Free in the Real World: An Initial Ethical Dialogue between Nishida Kitarō and Jeanne Hersch

Severini, Piergiacomo

Download PDF

Although they come from different cultural backgrounds, Nishida Kitarō and Jeanne Hersch share a commitment to reaffirming the essential nature of everyday experience of the self in the world, rather than relying solely on abstract intellectual theory. This common stance opens the way for a meaningful ethical dialogue. A comparison between Nishida’s An Inquiry into the Good and Hersch’s writings from the late 1920s to the early 1940s reveals that their views on reality and freedom intersect significantly, despite ultimately reaching contrasting conclusions about the role of distinction in human activity. From there, the author identifies key ethical insights that emerge from the similarities and differences between these two philosophers, concluding that human beings must exercise their freedom in accordance with their natural personal tendency to make distinctions and incarnate in concrete forms—a necessity for genuine ethical engagement with reality in daily life.