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Alex Gonzalez
Chico State










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On the article I read this week, God And Nothingness written by Carter, Robert E. This article
focuses on the idea of nothingness contrasting between western philosophy and Japanese philosopher.
The main philosopher used as Japanese comparison is Nishida Kitaro who gave nothingness a central
role in Philosophy. According to Nishida, nothingness is in close ties to Buddhism where Nishida claims,
The self discovers itself to be a bottomless contradictory identity and , as , such is both individual self
and yet a manifestation of the whole of things as nothingness. The strategy of this essay is to use the
German mystic Meister Eckhart as a more familiar thinker who did take nothingness seriously, and then
to look closely at Nishida's philosophy, and at the work of his contemporary Ueda Shizuteru, in exploring
the central importance of nothingness in Zen Buddhist thought. Western philosophers use nothingness
as negative connotation where there is a void of absolutely nothing. So western philosophy relates
more to the side of the ideology of God where Nishidas contradiction is that the belief of God and
materialism blocks Zen and nothingness so in response , We must forsake God, because as long as the
soul has God, knows God and is aware of God, she is far from God.35 We must let our soul die in God,
lose herself in God, and then even the imaging of God must cease, and God is lost in order that there be
nothingnessonly nothingness.
This Article has brought me thoughts that though the ideas of nothingness reaching a Zen state
of almost complete divinity. However, I do question the idea of supposed western philosophy of the
whole matter of nothingness and its negative meaning. Despite this it does give me an idea that more
eastern philosophy does indeed tie religion into nothingness giving it a state of absolute peace. With
this said I will focus on Eastern Philosophy first mainly Japanese. From there I will slowly make my way
to the Middle East such as China and then the roots of Islamic culture and religion. Leading my way to
Europe and then at last back to Western Philosophy. I do indeed to find change in nothingness and
maybe ties into them leading back to western philosophy on nothingness and maybe getting a true idea
of nothingness itself.
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References
Carter, Robert E., ( 2001) , GOD AND NOTHINGNESS ,
http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.mantis.csuchico.edu/eds/detail/detail?sid=6c6ac1ea-12f7-4cad-b9f8-
546559a41af5%40sessionmgr4003&vid=0&hid=4111&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d