Választott rokonság. Fukuzawa Yukichi civilizációértelmezéséről

An important consequence of the late-19th-century ‘opening’ of Japan was the encounter with Western social and political thought and interpretations of the state, the nation and history. Amongst the thinkers of the age, a central figure was Fukuzawa Yukichi 福沢諭吉 (1835–1901), whose works became programmatic texts for the transition of Japan. At several points in Fukuzawa’s writings, we are able to trace a characteristic paradox of Meiji-period Japanese thought. The paradox lay in the fact that while Japan intended to follow Western schemes in order to to put an end to a past labelled as “stagnant”, it it was precisely these Western schemes that made Japan recognise that the present can only be shaped on the foundations of a past. In the present paper, I will elaborate on such dilemmas of the age through the analysis of Fukuzawa’s Bunmeiron no gairyaku 文明論之概略 (An Outline of Theories of Civilization, 1875). First, I will provide an overview of European interpretations of the East and the changes in Japan’s self-interpretation during the 19th century. Then, I will examine Fukuzawa’s text focusing on aspects of the philosophy of history. At certain points of this analysis, I will compare Fukuzawa’s description of Japan with the depictions of the East of 18th and 19th century Western philosophers of history.