Resumen de Revisiting Rude Awakenings: The Dangerous (?) Thought of the Kyoto School
The in ernational controversy concerning the wartime political thought of the Kyoto School is as alive today as ever, seventy some years after the end of the war. This article first examines some assumptions operating in the background of recent critical literature that reads certain texts primarily through the lens of “the war,” without clarifying which war is meant, which “Kyoto School,” and which of its writings. Next, it reads “Overcoming Modernity” not through the lens of Japan’s war but rather by placing two of its themes in a current global context: the themes of secularism in “modernity” and of “machine civilization.” Finally, it addresses the question, what can we learn now from the political (mis)adventures of wartime Kyoto School? It reads the notorious Chūōkōron symposium in the context of geopolitics both at the time and today. The symposiasts alter the meaning of war in a way that explains aspects of warfare today, particularly its apparent endlessness. And their claims of Japanese exceptionalism and global mission find a current parallel in U.S. claims today that rationalize an American empire the media would rather keep hidden. The controversy proves relevant both for discerning our responsibilities as scholars and for understanding current global politics and their historical connection to the past
