田辺元の宗教哲学における実存協同をめぐって --「種の論理」から「愛の論理」へ

Abstract

In December of 1941, Tanabe Hajime (1885-1962) stopped publishing papers on social ontology which he has dubbed 'logic of species'. This marks the so-called collapse of the 'logic of species'. However, after finishing his "Philosophy as Metanoetics" (1946) which is centered on the problem of individual salvation, he tried to redevelop social ontology by mediating between the contents of his latest work and his prior work on the 'logic of species'. As a result, in "Demonstration of Christianity" (1948), he reached the 'logic of love' which is synthesis of social ontology and individual soteriology. This paper aims to clarify the connection between the 'logic of species' and the 'logic of love' by analyzing the relation between the notions 'species' (i.e. the substratum of nations and societies) and 'existential communion' (the core concept of Tanabe's 'logic of love', referring to the communion of people who have been saved). In contrast to the 'logic of species, ' where the term 'species' signifies the substratum of nations and societies, in the 'logic of love' it came to stand for the substratum of an existential communion. Thus, according to Tanabe, the existential communion comes into being when its species is absolutely converted by the Absolute. Moreover, this paper points to the difference between 'species' in 'logic of species' and that in 'logic of love' by showing how the 'species' is divided. In 'logic of species, ' the 'species' is divided through the occupation of land. In 'logic of love, ' however, it is divided by the different forms of 'species, ' e.g. laws and customs.