269 DOI: 10.4312/as.2020.8.1.269–271
Hisaki HASHI: Das Paradoxon in der Philosophie – Zum Aufbau der humanis-
tischen W elt
(2019. Wien and Münster: LIT-Verlag. 144 pages. Paperback ISBN 
978-3643509031.)
Reviewed by Jana S. ROŠKER
*
 
50
Hashi Hisaki, the author of this interesting book, is founder of the Association for 
Comparative Philosophy and Interdisciplinary Education (http://kophil-interdis.
at/wb/pages/home.php). Since 1995 she has taught at the Department of Philos -
ophy at the University of Vienna, Austria.   
The present book is written in German, as it is based upon Hashi Hisaki’s phi -
losophy lectures at this university. It elaborates upon intercultural dimensions of 
a wide scope of problems, linked to the concept of paradox, starting from the 
famous classical “liar paradox”  and then analysing various paradoxes exemplified 
in the works of Plato, Kant, Hegel, Klein, Reininger, Nagarjuna, Hanfezi, Dogen, 
and Nishida. The main goal of the work is to illuminate the creative function of 
paradoxes, and to show that it can raise in readers a vivid interest in independent 
and critical thinking. At the same time, it represents an inexhaustible source of 
integrative thinking and acting in our daily life. 
This stimulating and thought-provoking book is structured into twelve chapters, 
beginning with an introduction, in which the author sheds light upon the signifi -
cance of the topic through the lens of contemporary life, which is permeated by an 
infinite flow of information and artificial intelligence. In this context, the author 
exposes the urgent need for establishing new forms and levels of critical thinking 
and autonomous decisions. In her view, the studying and mastering of paradoxical 
thinking modes can positively influence our thought, enriching it through novel 
patterns of reasoning. 
In the following parts of the book, Hashi Hisaki offers motivating analyses and 
explanations of the paradoxes included in various important philosophical works 
written by some of the most influential European and Asian philosophers. 
This core part of the book opens with her interpretation of the classical Epi -
menides paradox, also known as the “antinomy of the liar”, in which a classical 
binary truth value leads to a contradiction. The author shows that in our concrete 
* Jana S. ROŠKER, Professor of Sinology, Department of Asian Studies, 
 Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia.
 Email address: jana.rosker@ff.uni-lj.si
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270 Book Review
life, we are frequently (and often unconsciously) confronted with similar phenom -
ena of “lying”, positioning us into a sphere “between appearance and reality” (p. 
15). The chapter clearly shows that an insight into the multifarious possibilities of 
interpreting this classical riddle can enable us to gain a deeper comprehension of 
complex situations we encounter in our daily lives. 
In a similar way, the book elaborates upon other well-known models of paradoxi -
cal thinking, beginning with the paradoxes of space (Hegel) and time (Reininger), 
which are then compared with the classical Indian paradox of time and space as 
presented by the most influential classical Indian logician Nagarjuna. 
The author then proceeds to Plato’s paradox of the “one”, which is tackled through 
its comparison with Aristotle’s principle of the excluded third and explained 
through interpretations of Plato’s “Parmenides dialogue”. 
In the next chapter (Chapter 7), Hashi studies the concept of paradox on a higher 
level of discursive logic, i.e. through Kant’s antinomy of pure reason. At the be -
ginning of this chapter the author explains the specific nature of such paradoxes, 
expressed through antinomies. Again, the model is studied through the compari -
son with the principle of the excluded third; in the final section of the chapter, the 
author focuses upon the first and third antinomies of pure reason. 
The next study of paradoxical thinking takes us to Ancient China. Here, the read -
er is acquainted with the classical Chinese model that can be found in the work 
of the legalist thinker Han Fei. His paradox, which represents a well-known seg -
ment of traditional Chinese philosophy, is treated in connection with human life 
as an expression of ontic reality.   
Before returning to Hegel’s philosophy, the author offers us an extensive analysis 
of the linguistic dimensions of the paradoxical model, based upon the Zen-Bud -
dhist dialectical surpassing of dualistic thought. 
The author shows in the next chapter that similar approaches were also sought 
in the scope of Western philosophy, exemplified by Hegel’s dialectical thinking 
and his attempts to establish a model of “excluded contradiction”. In this context, 
Hashi Hisaki points to the fact that dialectical thought has been widely neglected 
in the present era of “total digitalization” (p. 90). Hence, Hegel’s model represents 
a powerful alternative to the principle of excluded third, which is in Hashi’s view 
a core of our “dead thinking” (p. 91).
The notion of contradiction also remains the focus of our attention in the next 
chapter, i.e. Chapter 11. In this readers can learn about Nishida Kitaro’s classifi -
cation of this notion. Nishida, who belongs to the crucial pioneers of the Kyoto 
School of modern Japanese philosophy, has integrated the concept of contradiction 
into the central parts of his theoretical system; through his model of surpassing 
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271 Asian Studies VIII (XXIV), 1 (2020), pp. 269–271
and overcoming contradiction, he has immensely contributed to a widening and 
transformation of global philosophy. 
In the last chapter, Nishida’s thought, particularly his idea of the “self-identity of 
absolute contradictions”, is placed into a contrastive dialogue with the philosophy 
of the Austrian scholar Hans-Dieter Klein and his prototype of “being and lib -
eration from contradictions”. This comparative perspective confronts the reader 
with two different, but essentially related modes of dialectical thinking. While 
Klein understands the absolute as the monas monadum (which can be equated to 
God), Nishida sees the absolute as nothingness ( mu) and as a dimension of the 
limitlessness, which includes both goodness and evil, the absoluteness and the rel -
ativeness, whereby both anti-poles are continuously overcoming and developing 
one another. 
The book concludes with an afterword, in which the author sums up the main 
ideas of the work and reveals the significance of the paradox for a more complex, 
interculturally enriched global philosophy. 
The book is relevant for students and experts in comparative philosophy, but also 
for a wider interested readership. The chapters do not structurally build upon one 
another, which means that the particular contents are not interconnected in a 
strictly successive way, but rather in a holistic one. Even though numerous inter -
nal references are implied in the overall body of text, each chapter represents an 
independent, coherent unity of knowledge and learning. This arrangement makes 
a more flexible reading possible: the reader can start with the study of any chapter 
which he or she finds most appealing. As soon as readers understand the main 
ideas of the entire work, they might take time to contemplate on their relevance 
for the contemporary world and for the shaping of new forms of reasoning, which 
are urgently needed in our globalized societies. 
Even though in some parts the text is relatively difficult to understand, it offers 
potentially fruitful encounters across different philosophical traditions. The struc -
tural arrangement of different chapters represents a specific path of comparison, 
in which we cannot risk a danger of assuming that one tradition has offered the 
final answer to the central problems of the inquiry. Their mutual complementarity, 
however, doubtless represents an important contribution to the awareness of the 
fact that, in our current world, genuine philosophy is necessarily intercultural by 
its very nature. 
   
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