Paper short abstract:

What can we learn from Nishitani Keiji's understanding of meaningful and sustainable human interaction? By investigating a fictional work of family tragedy, I argue his position contains suggestions for navigating through our public duties and existential demands.

Paper long abstract:

Nishitani Keiji (西谷啓治 1900-1990) has described meaningful and sustainable human interaction as an egoteki-kankei (回互的関係), wherein we gather with other people and the things of the world, each "in the service (tsukaeru, 仕える)" of the other. One way of reading this relationship is to emphasize the freeing spontaneity that it brings and the parallels Nishitani makes to Nietzsche's image of the child at play (Bret W. Davis). Focusing on the child, however, might lead us to the problems Doi Takeo (土居健郎 1920-2009) indicates in his famous The Anatomy of Dependency (『「甘え」の構造』). The child-at-play image, for its part, draws our attention to the importance of feeling at home in the world. For a child to play, they need to feel secure, like the things in the world can immediately call out to them with wonder and possibility. If there is a failure in this sense of security, the world will appear very differently. To clarify the possibilities of Nishitani's egoteki-kankei, I propose taking up Doi's issues directly by turning to the family. Specifically, I would like to offer a reading of Oshimi Shūzō's (押見修造 1981-) recent, domestic-horror hit, Chi no Wadachi 『血の轍』. Informed by the field work of Anne Allison and Amy Borovoy, I develop a conflict between Kantian and Hegelian/Nishitanian understandings of integrity and commitment. I argue that a reading of the story couched in terms of heteronomy/autonomy misses how the institution of the family provides a space for developing a basic sense of self-integration. The tragedy of Oshimi's work can be seen only when we understand how public demands can come into conflict with the "existential demands" (David V. Ciavatta) that appear in the family. I would like to conclude by suggesting how Nishitani's egoteki-kankei opens up some further questions and possibilities for coping with the interpersonal breakdowns that arise in our most familiar and intimate spheres of life.