Ontology of Production presents three essays by the influential Japanese philosopher Nishida Kitarō (1870–1945), translated for the first time into English by William Haver. While previous translations of his writings have framed Nishida within Asian or Oriental philosophical traditions, Haver's introduction and approach to the texts rightly situate the work within Nishida's own commitment to Western philosophy. In particular, Haver focuses on Nishida's sustained and rigorous engagement with Marx's conception of production. Agreeing with Marx that ontology is production and production is ontology, Nishida in these three essays—"Expressive Activity" (1925), "The Standpoint of Active Intuition" (1935), and "Human Being" (1938)—addresses sense and reason, language and thought, intuition and appropriation, ultimately arguing that in this concept of production, ideality and materiality are neither mutually exclusive nor oppositional but, rather, coimmanent. Nishida's forceful articulation of the radical nature of Marx's theory of production is, Haver contends, particularly timely in today's speculation-driven global economy. Nishida's reading of Marx, which points to the inseparability of immaterial intellectual labor and material manual labor, provokes a reconsideration of Marxism's utility for making sense of—and resisting—the logic of contemporary capitalism. “These well-crafted translations make three important essays by Nishida Kitarō, Japan’s preeminent philosopher, available to English-language readers. In the introduction, William Haver suggests a new way of reading the essays, one that explains the ways that Nishida’s work helps us to better understand the contemporary world.”— Christian Uhl , Ghent University " Ontology of Production is an intellectual breakthrough. By genuinely respecting Nishida Kitarō's commitment to 'Western philosophy,' William Haver corrects long-standing misinterpretations of the philosopher's work. The translations themselves are astonishing. Until reading this book, I had not imagined that such fidelity to the original was possible between Japanese and English."— Naoki Sakai , author of Translation and Subjectivity: On "Japan" and Cultural Nationalism “It should be regarded not only as an introduction to Nishida’s thought and the richness of twentieth-century Japanese philosophy but also as an invitation to investigate the Eastern traditions that account for so much of its depth and mystical appeal.”― Germaine A. Hoston , Political Theory “ Ontology of Production promises a remarkable – albeit challenging – journey that is well worth the pursuit.”― David Baronov , Marx & Philosophy Review of Books Nishida Kitarō (1870–1945), considered the founder of the Kyoto School of Japanese philosophy, was Professor of Philosophy at Kyoto University. His many books include An Inquiry into the Good ; Intuition and Reflection in Self-Consciousness ; and Fundamental Problems of Philosophy . William Haver is Associate Professor of Comparative Literature at Binghamton University. He is the author of The Body of This Death: Historicity and Sociality in the Time of AIDS . William Haver is Associate Professor of Comparative Literature at Binghamton University. He is the author of The Body of This Death: Historicity and Sociality in the Time of AIDS . ONTOLOGY OF PRODUCTION 3 ESSAYS By Nishida Kitaro DUKE UNIVERSITY PRESS Copyright © 2012 Duke University Press All right reserved. ISBN: 978-0-8223-5180-1 Contents Introduction..................................................35Expressive Activity (1925)....................................64The Standpoint of Active Intuition (1935).....................144Human Being (1938)............................................187NOTES.........................................................195GLOSSARY......................................................199 Chapter One EXPRESSIVE ACTIVITY ("HYOGEN SAYO," 1925) 1 It might be thought that when we speak of expressive activity, we are thinking first of all of something like the movement of the external manifestation of emotion or sentiment. But expression expresses some content. What is expressed in something like external manifestation is the subjective emotion or sentiment of a certain individual, but what is expressed in something like the activity of verbal expression is the content of objective thought that can be understood by anyone. Even though it be something like artistic expressive activity, what is expressed therein is not simply the content of subjective emotion or sentiment; it must possess objective significance. It can be thought that all expressive activity is constituted of three elements; that is, the content of some sort that is expressed, the expressive activity, and the expression itself. One can claim that in something like the movement of external manifestation these three elements become one, but in something like language each is diff