scholarly journals Sociology of ritual and narrative as post-Western sociology: from the perspective of Confucianism and Nativism in the Edo period of Japan

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoshiyuki Yama
Keyword(s):  
Sociological Theory ◽  
Modern Science ◽  
Environmental Sociology ◽  
Chinese Characters ◽  
Western Science ◽  
Edo Period ◽  
Early Modern Japan ◽  
Meiji Period ◽  
History Of ◽  
Ogyu Sorai

AbstractModern sciences were introduced to Japan from Western countries during the Meiji period. In other words, this was the process of translating Western academic languages into Japanese academic languages. The translation was meant to reuse existing Chinese characters with similar meanings to Western academic languages or create new Chinese characters. Japan was able to rapidly introduce modern Western science during the Meiji period because it already had academic languages comparable to modern Western science; thus, the translation proceeded smoothly. This means that academic ways of thinking that were comparable to modern Western science were developing in Japan. At that time, modern Japanese society first encountered sociology as modern science. Sociology was translated into the Chinese characters “社会学 (Syakaigaku)” and introduced to Japan. The term Syakaigaku first appeared in Japan during the Meiji period; however, before that, early modern Japan had developed several kinds of sociological thought. The purpose of this paper is to examine the history of Japanese thought, especially the new types of Confucianism and Nativism (Kokugaku), in the Edo period in comparison with Western sociology. Various remarkable thoughts similar to those seen in Western sociology are found. This paper then reviews a Nativism scholar, Motoori Norinaga, who was active during the Edo period and influenced Japanese environmental sociology through the folklorist Kunuo Yanagita. Finally, a new sociology, which combines the Western sociological theory of ritual, the Japanese Confucian theory of ritual by Ogyu Sorai, and the narrative theory of Norinaga, is presented.

Book Reviews

2016 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 246-247
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Economic History ◽  
Early Modern Period ◽  
Social Changes ◽  
Edo Period ◽  
Social Transformations ◽  
Early Modern Japan ◽  
Modern Period ◽  
History Of ◽  
Modern Japan

Carl Mosk of the University of Victoria reviews “Japan's Industrious Revolution: Economic and Social Transformations in the Early Modern Period”, by Akira Hayami. The Econlit abstract of this book begins: “Explores how the economic and social transformations in pre-1600 Japan led to an “industrious revolution” in the early modern period, focusing on the rise of labor-intensive agriculture. Discusses viewpoints and methods in the economic history of Japan; history before the emergence of economic society; the delayed formation process of economic society; the establishment of economic society and the Edo period; the economic and social changes in the Edo period; the rise of industriousness in early modern Japan; economic development in early modern Japan; and historical reflections on Japan's industrialization.”

scholarly journals The Renewal of Tradition in the Political Thought of Early Modern Japan: The Confucian Concept of Dao and the Question of the Origin of Social Order in Ogyū Sorai’s Theory

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 149-181
Author(s):  
Valentin Matveenko
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Political Discourse ◽  
Early Modern Period ◽  
Early Modern Japan ◽  
Confucian Thought ◽  
History Of ◽  
Ogyu Sorai ◽  
Political Works ◽  
The Way

In Japan’s early modern period, Confucian philosophy was considered as a pattern of political discourse. Hence, many Japanese thinkers of the time were involved into solving political problems. The paper deals with the theory of social order developed by Ogyū Sorai (1666–1728), a major Confucian philosopher and the most progressive thinker of the time, who criticized modern schools for the practical incompetence of their ideas. Sorai’s theory unfolded around the idea of the Way of Early Kings, which he saw as a complex of principles that formed the foundation of social order. The Confucian concept of Dao is fundamental for this idea, the ethical interpretation of which was proposed by Sorai’s contemporaries, while Sorai considered the Way as a political category. The paper begins with a brief introduction to the role that Confucian thought played in the forming of the language of political discourse in Japan. Further, the author discusses Sorai’s ideas on the early kings and the Way created by them, as well as on social order, the role of the ruler, and human nature. The author pays special attention to Sorai’s theory of language that connects his lexicographic and political works. The fact is that since Sorai’s attention to the Way was grounded on his methodology, he believed that careful work with the language was the way to proper government and social order. The article concludes with an analysis of the way Sorai theorized the concept of Dao. On one hand, in his practical precepts, Sorai offered a pragmatic and politically-problematized interpretation of Dao. On the other hand, in his ideas on Heaven, gods, and spirits, Sorai offered a metaphysical perspective of Dao that is characterized with concerns for ontological and epistemological questions. As a result, in order to point out the significance of Sorai’s utilitarian and disenchanting world ideas since they were an important step in the history of Japanese philosophy that preceded modernity, the author attempts to describe Ogyū Sorai’s logic of social order based on both the pragmatical and metaphysical perspectives of his theory.

Japanese Merchants Diaspora in the 17th Century into Southeast Asia

IZUMI ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 246-257
Author(s):  
Riza Afita Surya
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
17Th Century ◽  
Japanese Culture ◽  
Maritime Trade ◽  
Edo Period ◽  
Minority Studies ◽  
Early Modern Japan ◽  
Historical Method ◽  
History Of ◽  
Japanese Studies

This study aimed to investigate the Japanese Diaspora in the 17th century into Southeast Asia. This article   discussed critically the  motives, process, and the effect of Japanese diaspora in the Southeast Asia. Reseacher utilized historical method with descriptive approach. The process being performed namely heuristics, critism, interpretation, and historiography. Japanese history regarding abroad migration is an interesting issue between scholars who studied migration, anthropology, and minority studies over the decades. Edo period in Japan is one of the most studied field for many scholars for Japanese studies, since it shaped the characteristic of Japanese culture until today. Trade of Japan is significant part of its economical development since the pre-modern era. In the 17th century, Japan established a solid trade network with Southeast Asia regions, namely Siam, Malacca,  Cambodia, Vietnam and Manila. The emerge of maritime trade with Southeast Asia encouraged Japanese merchants to travel and create settlements in some regions. The Japanese diaspora was encouraged with vermillion seal trade which allowed them to do journey overseas and settled in some places, which eventually increased the number of Japanese merchants in the Southeast Asia. However, after the Sakoku policy there was restriction of trade relation ehich prohibited overseas maritime trade, except for China and Dutch. Sakoku policy caused Japanese merchants who stayed overseas could not return for many years, then they settled themselves as Japanese communities known as Nihon Machi in some places within Southeast Asia. History of early modern Japan between the 16th and 19th century provides a broader narratives of global history as it was surrounded by intense global interaction.

Guest Editor's Introduction

2002 ◽  
Vol 58 (4) ◽  
pp. 509-511
Author(s):  
Marshall C. Eakin
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
History Of Science ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Land Tenure ◽  
Modern Science ◽  
The United States ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Western Science ◽  
American Science ◽  
History Of

Western science has played a fundamental role in the creation of the modern world.1 The emergence of modern science in Europe in the Renaissance accompanied and helped propel European overseas expansion.2 It played an important role in the conquest and colonization of Latin America, and in the "second conquest" in the aftermath of independence in the nineteenth century. Despite its importance, the history of science in Latin America has been inadequately cultivated, especially in comparison to themes such as land tenure, labor systems, slavery, and political power. A few Latin American nations-most notably Argentina, Mexico, Cuba, and Venezuela-have venerable traditions in the publication of works on the history of science that in some cases date back to the beginnings of the discipline in the early twentieth century.3 Only in recent years, however, have North American scholars begun to turn their attention to the history of Latin American science rather than the more intensely studied scientific traditions of Europe and the United States

Philosophcal review of h. white̕s tropological theory in the context of the new philosophy of history

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (152) ◽  
pp. 92-99
Author(s):  
S. M. Geiko ◽  
◽  
O. D. Lauta
Keyword(s):  
Modern Science ◽  
Historical Knowledge ◽  
Text Organization ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
Actual Material ◽  
The Common ◽  
Historical Nature ◽  
Selection Of

The article provides a philosophical analysis of the tropological theory of the history of H. White. The researcher claims that history is a specific kind of literature, and the historical works is the connection of a certain set of research and narrative operations. The first type of operation answers the question of why the event happened this way and not the other. The second operation is the social description, the narrative of events, the intellectual act of organizing the actual material. According to H. White, this is where the set of ideas and preferences of the researcher begin to work, mainly of a literary and historical nature. Explanations are the main mechanism that becomes the common thread of the narrative. The are implemented through using plot (romantic, satire, comic and tragic) and trope systems – the main stylistic forms of text organization (metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche, irony). The latter decisively influenced for result of the work historians. Historiographical style follows the tropological model, the selection of which is determined by the historian’s individual language practice. When the choice is made, the imagination is ready to create a narrative. Therefore, the historical understanding, according to H. White, can only be tropological. H. White proposes a new methodology for historical research. During the discourse, adequate speech is created to analyze historical phenomena, which the philosopher defines as prefigurative tropological movement. This is how history is revealed through the art of anthropology. Thus, H. White’s tropical history theory offers modern science f meaningful and metatheoretically significant. The structure of concepts on which the classification of historiographical styles can be based and the predictive function of philosophy regarding historical knowledge can be refined.

Empiricisms

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barry Allen
Keyword(s):  
John Dewey ◽  
Gilles Deleuze ◽  
William James ◽  
Natural Philosophy ◽  
Modern Science ◽  
Detailed Account ◽  
Chinese Tradition ◽  
Experimental Practice ◽  
European Philosophy ◽  
History Of

Empiricisms reassesses the values of experience and experiment in European philosophy and comparatively. It traces the history of empirical philosophy from its birth in Greek medicine to its emergence as a philosophy of modern science. A richly detailed account in Part I of history’s empiricisms establishes a context in Part II for reconsidering the work of the so-called radical empiricists—William James, Henri Bergson, John Dewey, and Gilles Deleuze, each treated in a dedicated chapter. What is “radical” about their work is to return empiricism from epistemology to the ontology and natural philosophy where it began. Empiricisms also sets empirical philosophy in conversation with Chinese tradition, considering technological, scientific, medical, and alchemical sources, as well as selected Confucian, Daoist, and Mohist classics. The work shows how philosophical reflection on experience and a profound experimental practice coexist in traditional China with no interaction or even awareness of each other. Empiricism is more multi-textured than philosophers tend to assume when we explain it to ourselves and to students. One purpose of Empiricisms is to recover the neglected context. A complementary purpose is to elucidate the value of experience and arrive at some idea of what is living and dead in philosophical empiricism.

Behind Japan's Resistant Web: Understanding the Problem of Nihonkyo

1995 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 401-412 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter N. Lundell ◽  
Peter N. Lundell
Keyword(s):  
Japanese Culture ◽  
Edo Period ◽  
Cultural Elements ◽  
Meiji Period ◽  
Per Se ◽  
The Web

When facing the persistent conundrum of evangelical missions in Japan, one pervasive, though largely hidden, factor emerges in the resistance of the Japanese to the gospel: the web-like interconnection of worldview assumptions collectively known as Nihonkyo (“Japanism“), as distinct from Japanese culture per se. Developing sociologically in the Edo Period and ideologically in the Meiji Period, the fabrication of Nihonkyo changed attitudes toward cultural elements such that a nation once very open to the gospel has become very closed. Principles of the problem and its discernment are widely applicable.

Translating iconicities of classical Chinese poetry

Semiotica ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 (224) ◽  
pp. 19-44
Author(s):  
Guangxu Zhao ◽  
Luise von Flotow
Keyword(s):  
Ezra Pound ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Chinese Characters ◽  
Chinese Poetry ◽  
Princeton University ◽  
Amy Lowell ◽  
Classical Chinese ◽  
Classical Chinese Poetry ◽  
History Of

Abstract In the history of translating classical Chinese poetry, there are two kinds of translators. The first kind translate classical Chinese poetry “by way of intellectual, directional devices” (Yip, Wai-lim. 1969. Ezra Pound’s Cathay. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press: 16). What these translators are concerned with most is the coherence of their translations. They give little attention to the ideogrammic nature of Chinese characters. I call them traditional translators. These translators include those in the history of translating classical Chinese poetry from its beginning to the first decade of the twentieth century, although there are still some who translate classical Chinese poetry in this way later. The second kind of translator is highly interested in the images created by ideogrammic Chinese characters and tries to convey them in target language. We call them modernist translators. These translators are represented by some American modernist poets such as Ezra Pound, Amy Lowell, Florence Ayscough, etc. From the point of view of iconicity, modernist translators’ contribution lies in their concern with the iconic characteristics of Chinese characters. But they did not give enough attention to syntactical iconicity and textual iconicity in classical Chinese poetry.

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