Events Being in a Place of Nothingness. Reflections on Nishida Kitarō and Wilfred Bion

This presentation brings Nishida Kitarō’s philosophy into dialogue with the psychoanalysis of Wilfred Bion. It centers around a comparison of Nishida’s concept of absolute nothingness (zettai mu) and Bion’s ideas on O. The mature psychoanalysis of Bion revolves around O which is not a concept but a signifier hinting at that what predates all knowing. O might be read as origin, zero, nothing or all, and refers to the ground of being which makes being and knowing possible in the first place. For Nishida, zettai mu, absolute nothingness, the self-negating self-identity of absolute contradictories refers to the basho, the non-dualistic, groundless ground of all being and relative non-being. In O and zettai mu, the epistemological distinction between knower and known, and the ontological distinction between being and nothingness dissolve into a place of non-dual, meontological ineffability. The goal of psychoanalysis for the late Bion is being-in-O, dissolving the self into original experience, an idea curiously like Nishida’s pure experience as well as his self-awakening of absolute nothingness. The presentation follows these themes, explores the similarities and differences of Bionian psychoanalysis and Nishida’s philosophy, and connects them with Negative Theology, often referenced by Bion, and meontological Buddhist thought. 

The speaker: 

Hilmar Schmiedl-Neuburg is a Privatdozent in Philosophy at the University of Kiel, Germany, and a Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Massachusetts Boston, USA. His research and teaching focus on 19th- and 20th-century German and French theoretical philosophy (including existentialism, phenomenology, post-structuralism, critical theory, and German Idealism), Asian philosophy, philosophy of religion, intercultural philosophy, and the relationship between philosophy, psychotherapy, and psychoanalysis.

 

April 24, 2026
16:00-17:30 pm (Japanese time) 
Hybrid Conference: Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture (Room 217) and Zoom

 

N.B.: This seminar is organized in collaboration with ENOJP and will take place in English. It will be possible to ask questions using other languages.
 
For the zoom link