Creative Imagination, Justice, and Nothingness: Reflections on the “Force” in the Works of Karatani Kōjin and Nakamura Yūjiro

What is it about?

Climate change, economic constraints under capitalism, and political and social divides hinder our ability to envision the future today. This paper tackles the difficulty of imagination and how to reconstruct it during the global social crisis by comparing two Japanese philosophers, Karatani Kōjin (1941–) and Nakamura Yūjirō (1925–2017). The text discusses Karatani’s criticism of Nakamura’s attempt to combine the concept of the “place of nothingness” with the Japanese language’s logic, which seemed to promote insular nationalism for Karatani. However, this paper argues that two individuals have different views on imagination and “force,” both developed after examining the concept of “nothingness.” Both arguments are concerned with “force.” When the repressed impersonal “force” returns to social reality, it necessitates moving beyond the existing code of order. Through their critical investigation of “nothingness,” Nakamura and Karatani explore reconstructing the power of imagination to respective horizons of justice. In doing so, this paper will argue that while Nakamura developed his philosophy of creative imagination in the field of “force” as the surrounding environment, Karatani limited “force” to the plane of social exchange. This comparative view can be more interactive in the age of economic and climate risks if we focus more on the philosophical genealogy of “nothingness.”

Featured Image