Abstract

East Asia has nurtured an intellectual tradition that includes Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism, whose richness is arguably compared with ancient Greek. Yet, this region has repeatedly been said to have "no philosophy”—by occidental philosophers whose name value surpasses any of the eastern thinkers. Is this because of the deficiency of East Asian tradition? Or is it due to “our” ignorance? My answer is: both. I argue that modern East Asian philosophy was an attempt to recognize the deficiency and develop the insight of intellectual tradition in order to make philosophical contribution with a focus on the onto-topological constitution of metaphysics. Exemplary are the Kyoto school and the New Confucians, but I show how their attempt has been misunderstood due to the lack of communication among contemporary East Asian philosophers.