Ikujiro Nonaka’s research while affiliated with Hitotsubashi University and other places

The aim of this chapter is (1) to provide a final response to the claim we made in the beginning, namely that the essence of sensation lies in empathy, and (2) to discuss the possibility of an eidetic intuition of human rights. These two topics must be given foundation through a philosophical analysis. This idea of providing a foundation relies on a method of proof specific to philosophy. In natural science, foundations are sought through experiments. But as we have been seeing so far, philosophy studies the sense- and value-giving processes that are not studied in the natural sciences. And the method of proof is based on a kind of certainty that must be accepted by all. In phenomenology, when something is based on this kind of certainty, it is said to be “based on evidence.” In general, evidence means that it is evident, i.e. clear. But in phenomenology, this is further distinguished into two kinds of evidence: absolutely indubitable evidence and evidence of complete clarity.

The SECI model is essentially a framework for innovation. It explains how to create value and how to live a “good” life as an organization to advance humanity. Instead of the age-old principle of “information-processing” in management science, this chapter explores “knowledge creation” paradigm, and how it successfully integrates and makes the most out of the seemingly opposite concepts, such as subjectivity and objectivity, and art and science.

Knowledge arises from sharing individual subjectivities with others or forming intersubjectivity through the process of empathy and “encountering.” This state can be achieved intentionally if an organization understands the process of knowledge creation and how to create and facilitate this dynamic process. This chapter explains this mechanism through exploring the examples of Kyocera, Honda, Eisai, Microsoft, and Seven-Eleven, and Toyota.

In Chapter 6, we looked at what is going on when we hear the melody of Sakura and encountered various new concepts in phenomenology such as retention and protention. One important point was that temporal contents precede temporal form; temporal contents are first given and depending on how they are given (its vividness, the difference in the intuitive power), the order (temporal form) is determined (from the less vivid to the more vivid). In other words, retentional horizontal intentionality (horizontal axis) arises from the objectification (externalization) of temporal contents established from retentional transverse intentionality (vertical axis), and it is not the case that the temporal form exists to begin with. To be sure, this relationship between transverse and horizontal intentionality of retention persists not only when we hear the Sakura melody. In this chapter, we will ask the following question as a guide to understanding the mechanisms of retention and protention. Namely, how is it that a heavy hitter such as Ichiro can hit the ball that he cannot see?

As we saw in the previous chapter, the so-called objective time objective time and space used in natural sciences belong to the quantitative world that is expressed in numbers and signs. However, the meanings of our experience of the present, past, and future time or of our experience of right/left, top/bottom, inside/outside are not found anywhere in this objective time objective time and space. In contrast, phenomenology deals with precisely what the natural scientific research excludes. Namely, it studies the sense- and value-giving processes (conscious or not) that are already at play in our encounter with the world. As we saw in the previous chapter, these sense- and value-giving processes are called intentionality in the sense that they are directed toward some specific meaning or value. Moreover, as we already explained before, intentionality can be divided into passive intentionality and active intentionality. The former is at work when, upon the train’s sudden stop, we feel the kinesthetic sensation of the foot moving without explicit awareness of it. And the latter kind of intentionality is at work when we deliberately step on another’s foot and we are explicitly aware of the sense- and value-giving processes. In this chapter, we will look more closely at these two kinds of intentionalities.

Intuition is about grasping the essence of things. Collective intuition is especially central to organizational knowledge creation. Intuition requires interaction with the reality, dialogue with others, or use of metaphors. To understand the dynamics of knowledge creation, phenomenological concepts such as intentionality, retention, the present with “width,” protention, and the steps of intuition are explained.

In the world of uncertainty, the analytical approach is becoming more and more difficult to analyze the reality to predict the future. Strategy should therefore focus on narrating an open-ended story to shape and create the future. We name this way of strategy “narrative strategy,” and this chapter explores how and why this is effective in the future.

Based on Part I, Nonaka and Yamaguchi discuss how exactly Husserl’s phenomenology offers the philosophical foundation for Nonaka’s knowledge creation theory and how we can conceive of “strategy” as a way of life. As Husserl’s phenomenology and knowledge creation theory have many conceptual links, juxtaposing these two helps us understand one another better. The connection between the knowledge conversion of the SECI process and Husserl’s ideas of active synthesis and passive synthesis are examined, along with the concept of the present with “width.”

The phenomenological reduction is the method of going back to experience just as it is and it is the method prior to, or the preliminary method for, eidetic intuition. It is the method of suspending intellectual judgment and bracketing or putting out of play our cognitive faculties. Suspension of judgment and bracketing allows us to be freed from biases and prejudices (such as the scientific worldview). This method is necessary because our everyday experience is covered up by various prejudices and biases (including speculations). Therefore, in order to employ eidetic intuition we must first remove those prejudices and biases and only subsequently secure the field of experience just as it is that is revealed as a result. One well-known way of reaching “experience just as it is” is the zazen (sitting meditation) practice of “becoming one with the breath,” which is a practice for attaining the “non-ego state of the mind” that we saw at the end of Chapter 3. In this chapter, we will first compare zazen and the phenomenological reduction by looking at the descriptions of the German philosopher, Eugen Herrigel (1884–1955), who, by becoming one with the breath, was able to realize “no-mind archery” where he would draw the bow in the non-ego state of mind.