“Nothingness”—A Comparative-Philosophical Interaction in the Field between East and West

Hashi, Hisaki (author)

In our digital age, translation software has come a long way, and in the context of business correspondence the cultural differences between languages have been reduced. However, in the fields of culture, the humanities, religion and philosophies, such differences, and the problems they cause, have not been eliminated, because their truths cannot be expressed in quantitative terms, through equations and schematizations in mathematics, physics and statistics. Generally speaking, the discrepancies are broader in classical scriptures due to the following factors: syntactic differences, differences in the meaning of words in their semantic aspects, and differences in the semiotic aspects of using words and sentences. This article attempts to analyse the basic concepts of “nothingness” in a comparative-philosophical manner, using concepts from Plato, Kant, and Hegel, as well as Daoism, Nāgārjuna (an important exponent of Early Mahayana Buddhism in India), East Asian Zen Buddhism, and Nishida (the founder of the modern Kyoto School). This allows the philosophical concepts of “nothingness” in East and West to be critically but interactively considered in their fundamental aspects.

• Language: English
• Keywords: comparative philosophy, being and nothingness, critical insight and interac-tion between East and West
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FF - Faculty of Arts
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Publication date: 01.09.2025
• Number of pages: Str. 187-212
• Numbering: Vol. 13, no. 3
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-178290
• ISSN: 2232-5131
• eISSN: 2350-4226
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4312/as.2025.13.3.187-212
• Publication date in RUL: 22.01.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Asian studies
• Publisher: Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete, Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete, Založba Univerze v Ljubljani
• ISSN: 2232-5131
• COBISS.SI-ID: 265206272

Licences

• License: CC BY-SA 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
• Description: This Creative Commons license is very similar to the regular Attribution license, but requires the release of all derivative works under this same license.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: »Nič« – primerjalnofilozofska interakcija v polju med Vzhodom in Zahodom

Abstract

V naši digitalni dobi se je prevajalska programska oprema zelo razvila in v okviru poslovne korespondence so se kulturne razlike med jeziki zmanjšale. Vendar pa na po-dročju kulture, humanistike, religije in filozofije jezikovne razlike in težave, ki jih te pov-zročajo, niso odpravljene, kajti njihovih resnic ni mogoče izraziti s kvantitativnimi izrazi, z enačbami in shematizacijami v matematiki, fiziki in statistiki. Na splošno so razlike v klasičnih spisih večje zaradi naslednjih dejavnikov: skladenjskih razlik, razlik v pomenu besed v njihovih semantičnih vidikih ter razlik v semiotičnih vidikih uporabe besed in stavkov. Ta članek poskuša analizirati osnovne koncepte »niča« na primerjalnofilozofski način z uporabo konceptov iz Platona, Kanta in Hegla ter daoizma, Nāgārjune (pomem-bnega predstavnika zgodnjega mahāyānskega budizma v Indiji), vzhodnoazijskega zen budizma in Nishide (ustanovitelja sodobne kjotske šole). To omogoča kritično, toda hkra-ti interaktivno obravnavo filozofskih konceptov »niča« na Vzhodu in Zahodu v njihovih temeljnih vidikih.

• Keywords: primerjalna filozofija, bivanje in nič, kritični uvid ter interakcija med Vzhodom in Zahodom