Paul Tillich once called Karl Marx one of the greatest prophets that ever lived. This still rings true today, as many contemporary philosophers remain steadfast in fulfilling the Marxist dream of ending the capitalist struggle. In Bradley Kaye’s book, Marx After the Kyoto School: Utopia and the Pure Land, such a commitment is forged from the long-standing breeding grounds of Marxism and Buddhism, except that the site of the utopian imagination is theorized more from a dual hermeneutical reading of Marx and the Kyoto School. Interestingly, this book reads a lot like, as Kaye describes it, one-part mystery novel and one-part science fiction (xii & 184), and as I would add, another part psychological thriller. It is indeed an exciting and worthy project, and much like a psychological thriller, the reader is always on the edge of their seat, not knowing what will happen next or where the story will take us. We leaf through the text page by page, with our minds embarking on this wild journey of what Kaye describes as a hypothetical “round table” discussion between Karl Marx and Nishida Kitaro (vii)... This is truly the first time we have seen such a feat at this scale, and that alone deserves considerable merit. My only hope is that this won’t be the last.

Comparative and Continental Philosophy