The possibility of dialogue between the ‘Kyoto School’ and ‘Islamic Philosophy’

Abstract Despite the temporal or historical and geographical differences between Japanese Kyoto Philosophical School in twentieth Century and Islamic Philosophy, there are remarkable similarities for doing comparative studies and therefore, according to the author, ‘the possibility of dialogue’ between them is conceivable. However, this article does not claim that a full logical correspondence between these two schools can be established. Kyoto is rooted in traditional Japanese school of Zen Buddhism and mystical and philosophical thoughts of the West. Key representatives of the school are Kitaro Nishida, Nishitany Keiji and Tanabe Hajime, which, in this article, we will focus mainly on religious and mystical ideas of Nishida and Nishitany. Nishida Kitaro is considered as the founder of Kyoto School. The prevailing thought of the school is based on the concepts of nothingness, God, manifestation, love, religion and soul. On the other hand, we encounter almost the same concepts in Islamic philosophy in the thoughts of its prominent representatives such as Rumi, Ibn Arabi, Sadra affected by religious tradition, the Quran, and Greek philosophy (including the Neo-Platonic philosophy). Focusing on concepts like God, divine manifestation, divine love, religion and soul on both sides, this paper seek to show the ‘possibility’ of dialogue between them