was a Japanese

philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

, best known for his work in the

philosophy of religion Philosophy of religion is "the philosophical examination of the central themes and concepts involved in religious traditions". Philosophical discussions on such topics date from ancient times, and appear in the earliest known texts concerning ph ...

dealing mostly with western religion and also western philosophical thoughts in theological aspects of Christianity.

Biography

Hatano was born in

Matsumoto Matsumoto (松本 or 松元, "base of the pine tree") may refer to: Places * Matsumoto, Nagano (松本市), a city ** Matsumoto Airport, an airport southwest of Matsumoto, Nagano * Matsumoto, Kagoshima (松元町), a former town now part of the c ...

Nagano Prefecture is a landlocked prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Nagano Prefecture has a population of 2,052,493 () and has a geographic area of . Nagano Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture to the north, Gunma Prefecture to the ...

, and educated at

Tokyo Imperial University , abbreviated as or UTokyo, is a public research university located in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1877, the university was the first Imperial University and is currently a Top Type university of the Top Global University Project by ...

, from which he graduated in 1899. He was very influential in stimulating the study in Japan of Western philosophy and religion, both through his teaching (he was the first to teach the history of Western philosophy at Tokyo Semmon Gakko, now

Waseda University , abbreviated as , is a private university, private research university in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Founded in 1882 as the ''Tōkyō Senmon Gakkō'' by Ōkuma Shigenobu, the school was formally renamed Waseda University in 1902. The university has numerou ...

), and through his early writings. These included ''An Outline of the History of Western Philosophy'' (1897), ''The Origins of Christianity'' (1909), and ''A Study of Spinoza'' (1904–1905). The last of these was originally written in

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

and only translated into

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

in 1910). It was reprinted after WW2. He opposed a positivist approach to religion, arguing that though

rationality Rationality is the quality of being guided by or based on reasons. In this regard, a person acts rationally if they have a good reason for what they do or a belief is rational if it is based on strong evidence. This quality can apply to an abil ...

underpinned religious beliefs, it depended upon an autonomous form of

experience Experience refers to conscious events in general, more specifically to perceptions, or to the practical knowledge and familiarity that is produced by these conscious processes. Understood as a conscious event in the widest sense, experience involv ...

to discover at least partial truth. He died in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

at the age of seventy-three.

Bibliography

*1897: ''An Outline of the History of Western Philosophy'' *1909: ''The Origins of Christianity'' *1904: ''A Study of Spinoza'' *1920: ''The Essence of the Philosophy of Religion and its Fundamental Problems'' *1935: ''Philosophy of Religion'' *1940: ''Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion'' *1943: ''Time and Eternity''

References

* St Elmo Hauman Jr. ''Dictionary of Asian Philosophies'' (London: Routledge, 1979) * John Maraldo. "Contemporary Japanese Philosophy" (in

Brian Carr Brian Carr (born 20 June 1969, in Glasgow) is a Scottish amateur featherweight and professional super bantam/ feather/ super featherweight boxer of the 1990s and 2000s. Boxing career Amateur career As an amateur he won the 1990 Amateur ...

& Indira Mahalingam dd ''Companion Encyclopedia of Asian Philosophy'' (London: Routledge, 1997) *
Britannica bio
1877 births 1950 deaths 19th-century philosophers 20th-century Japanese philosophers Philosophers of religion University of Tokyo alumni Kyoto University faculty University of Tokyo faculty Kyoto School People from Matsumoto, Nagano {{reli-philo-bio-stub