山田 全紀

When we make a comparative study between the East and the West, we must pay attention to the difference between the comparisons in the East and in the West. Comparative studies may be different in different cultural areas. From this point of view we refer to Max Scheler who compared Indian Buddhism with Greek philosophy and Christianity, and to Kitaro Nishida who aimed at overcoming modern Western philosophy with his experience in Zen. One looked at the East from the West and the other at the West from the East, which was rapidly westernized. We think it is more important for us today to recognize something different in a different culture rather than to seek integration or to find out identitfication with other cultures.

When we make a comparative study between the East and the West, we must pay attention to the difference between the comparisons in the East and in the West. Comparative studies may be different in different cultural areas. From this point of view we refer to Max Scheler who compared Indian Buddhism with Greek philosophy and Christianity, and to Kitaro Nishida who aimed at overcoming modern Western philosophy with his experience in Zen. One looked at the East from the West and the other at the West from the East, which was rapidly westernized. We think it is more important for us today to recognize something different in a different culture rather than to seek integration or to find out identitfication with other cultures.

In this present paper, toward the coming age of our symbiosis within the environment, we tried to consider the concept of environment from the aspect of Being-in-the-World, the structure of our existence, coined by M. Heidegger ("Being and Time", 1927). The contents are as follows; (1) We are apt to think our environment from the viewpoint of humanism. What is the meaning of our living environment from this anthropocentric point of view? How do we see the natural environment? (2) Looking back over the history of modern thought, we can easily see that in modern ages man and nature stood in opposition to each other, as if man could exist beyond nature. It is quite recently that man has really become aware of being in nature.(3) In order to consider the significance of being-in, we refer to M. Heidegger, who aimed at overcoming of modern ages. His analysis of In-sein (Being-in) seems to teach us what our environment is, and how we can find out again the place wherein we should live.