{"id":556,"date":"2020-10-21T10:17:28","date_gmt":"2020-10-21T10:17:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/?p=556"},"modified":"2020-11-24T03:26:56","modified_gmt":"2020-11-24T03:26:56","slug":"succession-and-development-of-east-asian-intellectual-traditions-kotoku-shusuis-monster-of-the-twentieth-century","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/2020\/10\/succession-and-development-of-east-asian-intellectual-traditions-kotoku-shusuis-monster-of-the-twentieth-century\/","title":{"rendered":"Succession and development of East Asian intellectual traditions: K\u014dtoku Sh\u016bsui\u2019s Monster of the Twentieth Century"},"content":{"rendered":"

From the viewpoint of people after World War II, it is easy to disapprove of imperialism that swept the world in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. However, at a time when this idea was considered standard, a Japanese socialist K\u014dtoku Sh\u016bsui developed a logical criticism of the problem in his first work, Monster of the Twentieth Century: Imperialism<\/em>(Nijusseiki No Kaibutsu Teikokushugi<\/em> \u5eff\u4e16\u7d00\u4e4b\u602a\u7269\u5e1d\u56fd\u4e3b\u7fa9). In this book, Sh\u016bsui describes the Chinese, Japanese,and European history and the trend in Japan and Europe at the time and argues that imperialism is an ideology woven with patriotism and militarism.<\/p>\n

One of the most notable features of Monster of the Twentieth Century: Imperialism<\/em> is its foresight. Prior to the British economist John A. Hobson\u2019s Imperialism: A Study<\/em> (1902) and Vladimir Lenin\u2019s Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism<\/em> (1917), Sh\u016bsui identified the complex structure of imperialism and raised the alarm. However, this work by Sh\u016bsui presently tends to be appreciated for its lack of economic analysis and its strong moral and ethical aspects through comparison with Hobson\u2019s and Lenin\u2019s analysis of economic factors of imperialist behaviour[1]<\/a>. However, this work can also be regarded as an intellectual attempt to integrate literature and social science. This is well illustrated by the fact that Sh\u016bsui refers to the Chinese classics such as Mengzi<\/em> and Shiji,<\/em> as well as multiple Japanese literary works as the basis of his logic. For example, Sh\u016bsui cites Mengzi: Gong Sun Chou I<\/em>. Accepting Mengzi\u2019s teaching on the innate benevolence of all people, that anyone who sees an infant about to fall into a well will run to save him, he argued that patriotism is highly egoistic and is distinguished from the innate, pure benevolence. He also attempts to construct a more comprehensive argument fusing the West and the East by combining those works with the European counterparts.<\/p>\n

What provides a distinctive philosophical depth to Sh\u016bsui\u2019s Monster of the Twentieth Century<\/em> is that he unravels the unique characteristics of Japanese imperialism while grounding it in the historical events and ideas of Japan and China. Sh\u016bsui\u2019s approach to developing the logic can be traced to his teacher, Nakae Ch\u014dmin \u4e2d\u6c5f\u5146\u6c11. Ch\u014dmin, about whom Sh\u016bsui wrote a biography called Ch\u014dmin Sensei<\/em> \u5146\u6c11\u5148\u751f, had re-evaluated the Confucian tradition in the face of concepts such as ‘civil rights (minken<\/em> \u6c11\u6a29)’ and ‘equality and freedom (by\u014dd\u014d jiy\u016b<\/em> \u5e73\u7b49\u81ea\u7531)’. In Ichinen Y\u016bhan<\/em>, he regards civil rights as the principle (shiri<\/em> \u81f3\u7406) and equality and freedom as the righteousness (taigi<\/em> \u5927\u7fa9) and argues that these ideas are not idiosyncratic to the West, as they have existed in the Confucian tradition of East Asia since they were detected by Mencius and Liu Zongyuan[2]<\/a>. Accordingly, he seeks ways to develop the idea of democracy (minpon shugi \u6c11\u672c\u4e3b\u7fa9) as well as freedom and equality based on the Confucian tradition. In Mengzi: King Hui of Liang II<\/em>, ‘the theory of the expulsions of disqualified monarchs by King Tang and King Wu (t\u014dbu h\u014dbatsu ron \u6e6f\u6b66\u653e\u4f10\u8ad6)’ is developed, which discusses whether subjects and people ought to remain submissive even when the monarch is a tyrant in accord with Confucianism, which emphasizes the importance of the relationship between sovereign and subject as one of the five relationships. Ch\u014dmin sheds light on the potential for ultimate democracy, which has been inherent in this Confucian philosophy.<\/p>\n

Whereas Ch\u014dmin reexamines the Confucian tradition of East Asia for its possibility of modernity, Sh\u016bsui revisits that tradition and criticises Japanese imperialism for deviating from it, assuming that prosperity and happiness, which are national honours, lie in a high degree of morality and nobility of ideals. In other words, while following Ch\u014dmin\u2019s methodology of using the Confucian tradition as the basis for the realization of his ideals, Sh\u016bsui used it to criticize the actual situation in Japan.<\/p>\n

Although Sh\u016bsui criticises the spread of imperialism as a global phenomenon, the significance of Monster of the Twentieth Century<\/em> is that it highlights the peculiarity of Japanese imperialism on an East Asian intellectual basis and develops an analysis that focuses on its ideological aspects. His progressive argument, which is underpinned by his literary flair, has a continuity with the lengthy intellectual history of East Asia, as a result of overlooking imperialism from an ideological point of view and succeeding his teacher\u2019s method of rethinking Confucianism, and hence gained profundity.<\/p>\n

Bibliography<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dirlik, Arif, Anarchism in the Chinese Revolution<\/em> (California, 1991).<\/p>\n

Nakae, Ch\u014dmin \u4e2d\u6c5f\u5146\u6c11, Sansuijin Keirin Mond\u014d<\/em> \u4e09\u9154\u4eba\u7d4c\u7db8\u554f\u7b54, trans. and ed. Kuwahara, Takeo \u6851\u539f\u6b66\u592b, Shimada, Kenji \u5cf6\u7530\u8654\u6b21 (Tokyo, 1983).<\/p>\n

Nakae, Ch\u014dmin \u4e2d\u6c5f\u5146\u6c11, Ichinen Y\u016bhan, Zoku Ichinen Y\u016bhan<\/em> \u4e00\u5e74\u6709\u534a\u30fb\u7d9a\u4e00\u5e74\u6709\u534a, trans. and ed. Ida, Shinya \u4e95\u7530\u9032\u4e5f (Tokyo, 1995).<\/p>\n

Tierney, Robert T., Monster of the Twentieth Century: K\u014dtoku Sh\u016bsui and Japan\u2019s First Anti-Imperialist Movement<\/em>(California, 2015).<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Robert T. Tierney, Monster of the Twentieth Century: K\u014dtoku Sh\u016bsui and Japan\u2019s First Anti-Imperialist Movement<\/em> (California, 2015), p. 7<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Ch\u014dmin Nakae, Ichinen Y\u016bhan, Zoku Ichinen Y\u016bhan<\/em>, trans. and ed. Shinya Ida (Tokyo, 1995), p. 56.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the viewpoint of people after World War II, it is easy to disapprove of imperialism that swept the world in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. However, at a time when this idea was considered standard, a Japanese socialist K\u014dtoku Sh\u016bsui developed a logical criticism of the problem in his first work, Monster … Continue reading “Succession and development of East Asian intellectual traditions: K\u014dtoku Sh\u016bsui\u2019s Monster of the Twentieth Century”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=556"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":680,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556\/revisions\/680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}