The Journal of Philosophy, 1965
viii FOREWORD with one another, and make value judgments or practical decisions. For such an anal... more viii FOREWORD with one another, and make value judgments or practical decisions. For such an analysis, he has been concerned with a whole range of phenomena which might be classifIed as social-historical, psychological, and linguistic. The design of this comparative study of modes of thought was developed out of the intellectual interests we have noted. Each of the four sections of the study is developed on a common plan. First there is some discussion of language and logic, of the characteristic ways in which each of these Asian peoples habitually made certain types of judgment and inferences. In each section the author then proceeds to the manifestations of these patterns in formal philosophical writing, in literature, and in individual and group behavior. In each section Buddhism is used, in the manner described earlier, as a kind of chemical precipitant to isolate those indigenous habits of thinking that are most enduring and resistant to change. Mr. Nakamura is aware that explicit logic and philosophical formulations of all kinds are the particular property of the small educated elites in the societies he is considering. But, if I interpret him correctly, he regards the philosophizing of the elite as a kind of translation into more general and abstract terms of the problems encountered in the common life of the society. And, in turn, folk sayings, proverbs, everyday thought reflect a translation downward or a seeping downward of what the philosophers have voiced. To fInd evidence of how this occurred and of how Buddhist ideas and values entered into this process in the four societies, Mr. Nakamura has cast a wide net. He has combed folk literature, prayers and the scriptures of popular cults, collections of proverbs, descriptions of everyday life and, wherever possible, he has used -the accounts of foreign observers whose fresh eyes often register characteristics that escape the native critic of his own society. Thus, in the end we are shown not only how each elite grappled with the problems of Buddhist thought and belief but also how this process affected habits of thought and modes of behavior in the society as a whole. The present revised English edition reflects at many points the development of Mr. Nakamura's thought in the period since 1947. When the fIrst Japanese version was written, Japan was only beginning to emerge from the isolation of years of war and military rule. Since that time Mr. Nakamura has read widely in newer writings in the fIelds of philosophy, anthropology, and linguistics. During 1951-1952, he visited Stanford University where his work was the focus of a year-long faculty seminar. Again in 1962-1963 he discussed his fIndings with a seminar of scholars at the East-West Center. Portions of his book, certain lines of argument, and much of the documentation have been revised in the light of the author's experiences over the last fIfteen years. It is a pleasure to present this revised English edition to the Western reader. In its pages scholar and layman alike will find a wealth of insight into the range of great problems with which Mr. Nakamura is concerned. He will also, I think, come to admire its author as a tireless explorer on the frontiers of knowledge, a scholar whose virtuousity in research is matched by his relentless drive towards new understandings.
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