Abstract

Trying to locate Nishida’s philosophy in the history of philosophy, the notion of such a history cannot be assumed without question. Nishida’s philosophy shares many essential elements with Western philosophy, but it is also rooted ›outside‹ of this philosophy, in Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism. The years before and after 1911, when Nishida’s inquiry into the good appeared, are the dividing line between the philosophy of the 19th and 20th centuries. Nishida’s philosophy forms a part of this era, characterized by being formed in the non-European world. Nishida’s philosophy in the strict sense begins with the idea of »place«. The »place« is the starting point to develop a form of a philosophical logic for the East Asian experience of »absolute nothingness«. If in philosophy »nothingness« is obtained as the groundless ground of being, as we can also see in other philosophies, the philosophy of Nishida goes back into this groundless ground to bring up a new view of the history of philosophy itself.