Being-Time, or How Traditional Japanese Thought Collided with Western Philosophy and Modern Physics at Hiroshima

Christopher Curtis Mead

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ijp.20241203.14

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Being-Time, or How Traditional Japanese Thought Collided with Western Philosophy and Modern Physics at Hiroshima

Christopher Curtis Mead^*

Published in International Journal of Philosophy (Volume 12, Issue 3)

Received: 28 July 2024 Accepted: 11 September 2024 Published: 29 September 2024

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Abstract

The atom bomb that annihilated Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945, proved Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity. Mass became energy and the classic Western dialectic of three-dimensional space and linear time was displaced by the integrated concept of spacetime. On that day, modern physics also collided with the traditional Japanese understanding that space and time are interdependent phenomena. This collision speaks to conceptual parallels relating Buddhist thought, modern Japanese philosophy, phenomenology, and the physics of spacetime. The thirteenth-century Zen Buddhist monk Dōgen said that all phenomena are made possible by the universal principle of emptiness and that our existence arises with each moment in what he termed Being-Time, where past, present, and future co-exist. The Japanese philosopher Nishida Kitarō, along with Tanabe Hajime and Watsuji Tetsurō, saw reality as a multi-dimensional field of space-in-time where the individual subject no longer stood apart from the objective world but instead arose dynamically as contingent activities rather than an autonomous thing. The German philosopher Martin Heidegger rejected the rational binary of subject and object in Western thought and grounded our “being” in phenomena that came from their temporal being-in-the-world rather than representing some preexisting objective reality. The physicist Albert Einstein radically rethought the dialectic of three-dimensional space and linear time, used to schematize the physical world in the West since antiquity, and theorized the relativity of spacetime, in which all phenomena occur in space in relation to their place in time. Interwoven, these intellectual threads stripped the bombing of Hiroshima of its historical inevitability. The story of human experience lost its customary sense of going somewhere predetermined and was revealed instead to be an endlessly discrete accumulation of moments that could go anywhere at every transient and directionless moment in time.

Published in	International Journal of Philosophy (Volume 12, Issue 3)
DOI	10.11648/j.ijp.20241203.14
Page(s)	50-59
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Hiroshima, Atom Bomb, Buddhism, Japanese Philosophy, Western Philosophy, Phenomenology, Modern Physics, Spacetime Relativity

References

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[28]	Tanabe Hajime田辺元. Zangedō toshite no tetsugaku 懺悔道としての哲学. 1946. Philosophy as Metanoetics. Translated by T. Yoshinori, V. Viglielmo, and J. W. Heisig. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987.

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Mead, C. C. (2024). Being-Time, or How Traditional Japanese Thought Collided with Western Philosophy and Modern Physics at Hiroshima. International Journal of Philosophy, 12(3), 50-59. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijp.20241203.14

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Mead, C. C. Being-Time, or How Traditional Japanese Thought Collided with Western Philosophy and Modern Physics at Hiroshima. Int. J. Philos. 2024, 12(3), 50-59. doi: 10.11648/j.ijp.20241203.14

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Mead CC. Being-Time, or How Traditional Japanese Thought Collided with Western Philosophy and Modern Physics at Hiroshima. Int J Philos. 2024;12(3):50-59. doi: 10.11648/j.ijp.20241203.14

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@article{10.11648/j.ijp.20241203.14,
  author = {Christopher Curtis Mead},
  title = {Being-Time, or How Traditional Japanese Thought Collided with Western Philosophy and Modern Physics at Hiroshima
},
  journal = {International Journal of Philosophy},
  volume = {12},
  number = {3},
  pages = {50-59},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijp.20241203.14},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijp.20241203.14},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijp.20241203.14},
  abstract = {The atom bomb that annihilated Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945, proved Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity. Mass became energy and the classic Western dialectic of three-dimensional space and linear time was displaced by the integrated concept of spacetime. On that day, modern physics also collided with the traditional Japanese understanding that space and time are interdependent phenomena. This collision speaks to conceptual parallels relating Buddhist thought, modern Japanese philosophy, phenomenology, and the physics of spacetime. The thirteenth-century Zen Buddhist monk Dōgen said that all phenomena are made possible by the universal principle of emptiness and that our existence arises with each moment in what he termed Being-Time, where past, present, and future co-exist. The Japanese philosopher Nishida Kitarō, along with Tanabe Hajime and Watsuji Tetsurō, saw reality as a multi-dimensional field of space-in-time where the individual subject no longer stood apart from the objective world but instead arose dynamically as contingent activities rather than an autonomous thing. The German philosopher Martin Heidegger rejected the rational binary of subject and object in Western thought and grounded our “being” in phenomena that came from their temporal being-in-the-world rather than representing some preexisting objective reality. The physicist Albert Einstein radically rethought the dialectic of three-dimensional space and linear time, used to schematize the physical world in the West since antiquity, and theorized the relativity of spacetime, in which all phenomena occur in space in relation to their place in time. Interwoven, these intellectual threads stripped the bombing of Hiroshima of its historical inevitability. The story of human experience lost its customary sense of going somewhere predetermined and was revealed instead to be an endlessly discrete accumulation of moments that could go anywhere at every transient and directionless moment in time.
},
 year = {2024}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - Being-Time, or How Traditional Japanese Thought Collided with Western Philosophy and Modern Physics at Hiroshima

AU  - Christopher Curtis Mead
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N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijp.20241203.14
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AB  - The atom bomb that annihilated Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945, proved Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity. Mass became energy and the classic Western dialectic of three-dimensional space and linear time was displaced by the integrated concept of spacetime. On that day, modern physics also collided with the traditional Japanese understanding that space and time are interdependent phenomena. This collision speaks to conceptual parallels relating Buddhist thought, modern Japanese philosophy, phenomenology, and the physics of spacetime. The thirteenth-century Zen Buddhist monk Dōgen said that all phenomena are made possible by the universal principle of emptiness and that our existence arises with each moment in what he termed Being-Time, where past, present, and future co-exist. The Japanese philosopher Nishida Kitarō, along with Tanabe Hajime and Watsuji Tetsurō, saw reality as a multi-dimensional field of space-in-time where the individual subject no longer stood apart from the objective world but instead arose dynamically as contingent activities rather than an autonomous thing. The German philosopher Martin Heidegger rejected the rational binary of subject and object in Western thought and grounded our “being” in phenomena that came from their temporal being-in-the-world rather than representing some preexisting objective reality. The physicist Albert Einstein radically rethought the dialectic of three-dimensional space and linear time, used to schematize the physical world in the West since antiquity, and theorized the relativity of spacetime, in which all phenomena occur in space in relation to their place in time. Interwoven, these intellectual threads stripped the bombing of Hiroshima of its historical inevitability. The story of human experience lost its customary sense of going somewhere predetermined and was revealed instead to be an endlessly discrete accumulation of moments that could go anywhere at every transient and directionless moment in time.

VL  - 12
IS  - 3
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Author Information

Christopher Curtis Mead

College of Fine Arts and School of Architecture and Planning, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, United States

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http://orcid.org/0009-0000-9614-5754

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Mead, C. C. (2024). Being-Time, or How Traditional Japanese Thought Collided with Western Philosophy and Modern Physics at Hiroshima. International Journal of Philosophy, 12(3), 50-59. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijp.20241203.14

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ACS Style

Mead, C. C. Being-Time, or How Traditional Japanese Thought Collided with Western Philosophy and Modern Physics at Hiroshima. Int. J. Philos. 2024, 12(3), 50-59. doi: 10.11648/j.ijp.20241203.14

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AMA Style

Mead CC. Being-Time, or How Traditional Japanese Thought Collided with Western Philosophy and Modern Physics at Hiroshima. Int J Philos. 2024;12(3):50-59. doi: 10.11648/j.ijp.20241203.14

Copy | Download

@article{10.11648/j.ijp.20241203.14,
  author = {Christopher Curtis Mead},
  title = {Being-Time, or How Traditional Japanese Thought Collided with Western Philosophy and Modern Physics at Hiroshima
},
  journal = {International Journal of Philosophy},
  volume = {12},
  number = {3},
  pages = {50-59},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijp.20241203.14},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijp.20241203.14},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijp.20241203.14},
  abstract = {The atom bomb that annihilated Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945, proved Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity. Mass became energy and the classic Western dialectic of three-dimensional space and linear time was displaced by the integrated concept of spacetime. On that day, modern physics also collided with the traditional Japanese understanding that space and time are interdependent phenomena. This collision speaks to conceptual parallels relating Buddhist thought, modern Japanese philosophy, phenomenology, and the physics of spacetime. The thirteenth-century Zen Buddhist monk Dōgen said that all phenomena are made possible by the universal principle of emptiness and that our existence arises with each moment in what he termed Being-Time, where past, present, and future co-exist. The Japanese philosopher Nishida Kitarō, along with Tanabe Hajime and Watsuji Tetsurō, saw reality as a multi-dimensional field of space-in-time where the individual subject no longer stood apart from the objective world but instead arose dynamically as contingent activities rather than an autonomous thing. The German philosopher Martin Heidegger rejected the rational binary of subject and object in Western thought and grounded our “being” in phenomena that came from their temporal being-in-the-world rather than representing some preexisting objective reality. The physicist Albert Einstein radically rethought the dialectic of three-dimensional space and linear time, used to schematize the physical world in the West since antiquity, and theorized the relativity of spacetime, in which all phenomena occur in space in relation to their place in time. Interwoven, these intellectual threads stripped the bombing of Hiroshima of its historical inevitability. The story of human experience lost its customary sense of going somewhere predetermined and was revealed instead to be an endlessly discrete accumulation of moments that could go anywhere at every transient and directionless moment in time.
},
 year = {2024}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Being-Time, or How Traditional Japanese Thought Collided with Western Philosophy and Modern Physics at Hiroshima

AU  - Christopher Curtis Mead
Y1  - 2024/09/29
PY  - 2024
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijp.20241203.14
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijp.20241203.14
T2  - International Journal of Philosophy
JF  - International Journal of Philosophy
JO  - International Journal of Philosophy
SP  - 50
EP  - 59
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2330-7455
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijp.20241203.14
AB  - The atom bomb that annihilated Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945, proved Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity. Mass became energy and the classic Western dialectic of three-dimensional space and linear time was displaced by the integrated concept of spacetime. On that day, modern physics also collided with the traditional Japanese understanding that space and time are interdependent phenomena. This collision speaks to conceptual parallels relating Buddhist thought, modern Japanese philosophy, phenomenology, and the physics of spacetime. The thirteenth-century Zen Buddhist monk Dōgen said that all phenomena are made possible by the universal principle of emptiness and that our existence arises with each moment in what he termed Being-Time, where past, present, and future co-exist. The Japanese philosopher Nishida Kitarō, along with Tanabe Hajime and Watsuji Tetsurō, saw reality as a multi-dimensional field of space-in-time where the individual subject no longer stood apart from the objective world but instead arose dynamically as contingent activities rather than an autonomous thing. The German philosopher Martin Heidegger rejected the rational binary of subject and object in Western thought and grounded our “being” in phenomena that came from their temporal being-in-the-world rather than representing some preexisting objective reality. The physicist Albert Einstein radically rethought the dialectic of three-dimensional space and linear time, used to schematize the physical world in the West since antiquity, and theorized the relativity of spacetime, in which all phenomena occur in space in relation to their place in time. Interwoven, these intellectual threads stripped the bombing of Hiroshima of its historical inevitability. The story of human experience lost its customary sense of going somewhere predetermined and was revealed instead to be an endlessly discrete accumulation of moments that could go anywhere at every transient and directionless moment in time.

VL  - 12
IS  - 3
ER  -

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