Hatano Seiichi
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was a Japanese
philosopher Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
, best known for his work in the
philosophy of religion Philosophy of religion is "the philosophical examination of the central themes and concepts involved in religious traditions". Philosophical discussions on such topics date from ancient times, and appear in the earliest known Text (literary theo ...
dealing mostly with western religion and also western philosophical thoughts in theological aspects of Christianity.


Biography

Hatano was born in Matsumoto in
Nagano Prefecture is a Landlocked country, landlocked Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Nagano Prefecture has a population of 2,007,682 () and has a geographic area of . Nagano Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture ...
, and educated at
Tokyo Imperial University The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public university, public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several Edo peri ...
, from which he graduated in 1899. He was very influential in stimulating the study in Japan of Western philosophy and religion, both through his teaching (he was the first to teach the history of Western philosophy at Tokyo Semmon Gakko, now
Waseda University Waseda University (Japanese: ), abbreviated as or , is a private university, private research university in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Founded in 1882 as the Tōkyō Professional School by Ōkuma Shigenobu, the fifth Prime Minister of Japan, prime ministe ...
), and through his early writings. These included ''An Outline of the History of Western Philosophy'' (1897), ''The Origins of Christianity'' (1909), and ''A Study of Spinoza'' (1904–1905). The last of these was originally written in
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
and only translated into
Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...
in 1910. It was reprinted after WW2. He opposed a positivist approach to religion, arguing that though
rationality Rationality is the quality of being guided by or based on reason. In this regard, a person acts rationally if they have a good reason for what they do, or a belief is rational if it is based on strong evidence. This quality can apply to an ab ...
underpinned religious beliefs, it depended upon an autonomous form of
experience Experience refers to Consciousness, conscious events in general, more specifically to perceptions, or to the practical knowledge and familiarity that is produced by these processes. Understood as a conscious event in the widest sense, experience i ...
to discover at least partial truth. He died in
Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...
at the age of seventy-three.


Bibliography

*1897: ''An Outline of the History of Western Philosophy'' *1909: ''The Origins of Christianity'' *1904: ''A Study of Spinoza'' *1920: ''The Essence of the Philosophy of Religion and Its Fundamental Problems'' *1935: ''Philosophy of Religion'' *1940: ''Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion'' *1943: ''Time and Eternity''


References

* St Elmo Hauman Jr. ''Dictionary of Asian Philosophies'' (London: Routledge, 1979) . *
John Maraldo John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second Ep ...
. "Contemporary Japanese Philosophy" (in
Brian Carr Brian Carr (born 20 June 1969, in Glasgow) is a Scottish amateur featherweight and professional super bantam/feather/super featherweight boxer of the 1990s and 2000s. Boxing career Amateur career As an amateur he won the 1990 Amateur Boxing ...
&
Indira Mahalingam __NOTOC__ Indira may refer to: People * Indira (name) Films and books * ''Indira'', an 1873 novella by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee * ''Indira'' (film), directed by Suhasini Manirathnam Others * Indira is a byname of Lakshmi, the Hindu goddess ...
d ''Companion Encyclopedia of Asian Philosophy'' (London: Routledge, 1997) .
Britannica
1877 births 1950 deaths 19th-century Japanese philosophers 20th-century Japanese philosophers Japanese philosophers of religion University of Tokyo alumni Academic staff of Kyoto University Academic staff of the University of Tokyo Kyoto School People from Matsumoto, Nagano {{reli-philo-bio-stub