was a Japanese philosopher, 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 Matsumoto (松本 or 松元, "base of the pine tree") may refer to: Places * Matsumoto, Nagano (松本市), a city ** Matsumoto Airport, an airport southwest of Matsumoto, Nagano * Matsumoto, Kagoshima (松元町), a former town now part of the ...

Nagano Prefecture is a landlocked prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Nagano Prefecture has a population of 2,052,493 () and has a geographic area of . Nagano Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture to the north, Gunma Prefecture to the n ...

, and educated at

Tokyo Imperial University , abbreviated as or UTokyo, is a public research university located in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1877, the university was the first Imperial University and is currently a Top Type university of the Top Global University Project by ...

, 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 , mottoeng = Independence of scholarship , established = 21 October 1882 , type = Private , endowment = , president = Aiji Tanaka , city = Shinjuku , state = Tokyo , country = Japan , students = 47,959 , undergrad = 39,382 , postgrad ...

), 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 (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

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 underpinned religious beliefs, it depended upon an autonomous form of

experience Experience refers to conscious events in general, more specifically to perceptions, or to the practical knowledge and familiarity that is produced by these conscious processes. Understood as a conscious event in the widest sense, experience invol ...

to discover at least partial truth. He died in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

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 * Seco ...

. "Contemporary Japanese Philosophy" (in Brian Carr &

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 * ''Indira'' (1989 film), a Hindi film (Hema malini as Indi ...

dd ''Companion Encyclopedia of Asian Philosophy'' (London: Routledge, 1997) *
Britannica bio
1877 births 1950 deaths 19th-century philosophers 20th-century Japanese philosophers Philosophers of religion University of Tokyo alumni Kyoto University faculty University of Tokyo faculty Kyoto School People from Matsumoto, Nagano {{reli-philo-bio-stub