scholarly journals The Forgotten Enlightener: Shiga Shigetaka (1863-1927)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Masako Gavin
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual History ◽  
World Order ◽  
World War ◽  
Intellectual Activity ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
The People ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
Political Activist ◽  
The Many ◽  
Two Stages

<p>Shiga Shigetaka (1863-1927) is generally known among scholars of Japanese intellectual history as the pioneering advocate of kokusui shugi (maintenance of Japan's cultural identity), a theory which called for spiritual solidarity in the late 1880s when Japan was facing increasing pressure from the West. He is also regarded as an intellectual opponent of his contemporary, journalist Tokutomi Soho (1863-1957), who advocated heimin shugi, total modernisation of Japan. Their so-called rivalry has been understood as Shigetaka being "conservative" and Soho, "progressive", despite the many parallels in their ideas regarding the necessity for industrialisation of Japan: the myth has been created that Shigetaka's ideas are synonymous with those of the "conservative" intellectuals, particularly the "Confucian" scholars (jukyo shugi sha). In fact, Shigetaka strongly rejected the "conservative" label and criticised the "Confucian" scholars when their influence culminated in the promulgation of the Imperial Rescript on Education in 1890 and also when the National Morality Movement gained nation-wide support after 1910. However, his criticism of them has not been sufficiently studied and existing discussions of his thought predominantly focus on the kokusui issue. Other studies deal with Shigetaka as geographer, political activist, and global traveller, but tend to be rather sketchy. Above all, they do not concern themselves with his thoughts on education, which are particularly significant in light of his opposition to the "Confucian" scholars' attempts to achieve national moral control. Despite his opposition, there has been another longstanding myth about him: his kokusui advocacy and his purpose of promotion as well as popularisation of the study of the geography have been interpreted as leading towards Japan's later imperialism. One of the purposes of this study is to challenge these two myths, (Shigetaka as a "conservative" intellectual and Shigetaka as a forerunner of imperialism), by focussing on the areas of his work overlooked by the previous scholars. This thesis presents a more realistic picture of Shigetaka's intellectual activity by examining his thought in two stages: the late 1880s when he advocated Japan's economic reform supported by national (spiritual) solidarity; and after 1910 when he began his outspoken criticism of the "Confucian" scholars. By analysing his criticism of the "Confucian" scholars, the discourse attempts to establish the following two points: first, that the "Confucian" scholars were Shigetaka's intellectual opponents; second, that he was an anti-imperialist who strongly opposed Japan's march towards the "suicidal" World War Two. The thesis also identifies the close relationship between Shigetaka's beliefs regarding education and economic reforms and those of Fukuzawa Yukichi (1835-1901), the most influential enlightener of 1870s in Japan. Both Fukuzawa and Shigetaka had participated in missions overseas and both believed in Western studies, although Shigetaka warned against too indiscriminate an adoption of Westernisation because of his findings of the demeaning effect of Western culture in the South Seas. This thesis demonstrates how Shigetaka supported his reform advocacy with first-hand observations of current world affairs. He believed that Japan's survival and respect in the fast-changing world order depended on education and it was vital to promote and popularise geography as a curricular subject and as a way of understanding the contemporary world. He aimed at not only educating the people through institutions, but also enlightening the general public through journalism. Consequently, this thesis suggests that his views on education, to which insufficient weight has been given until now, are essential to understanding the intellectual activity of this "forgotten enlightener".</p>

scholarly journals The Forgotten Enlightener: Shiga Shigetaka (1863-1927)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Masako Gavin
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual History ◽  
World Order ◽  
World War ◽  
Intellectual Activity ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
The People ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
Political Activist ◽  
The Many ◽  
Two Stages

<p>Shiga Shigetaka (1863-1927) is generally known among scholars of Japanese intellectual history as the pioneering advocate of kokusui shugi (maintenance of Japan's cultural identity), a theory which called for spiritual solidarity in the late 1880s when Japan was facing increasing pressure from the West. He is also regarded as an intellectual opponent of his contemporary, journalist Tokutomi Soho (1863-1957), who advocated heimin shugi, total modernisation of Japan. Their so-called rivalry has been understood as Shigetaka being "conservative" and Soho, "progressive", despite the many parallels in their ideas regarding the necessity for industrialisation of Japan: the myth has been created that Shigetaka's ideas are synonymous with those of the "conservative" intellectuals, particularly the "Confucian" scholars (jukyo shugi sha). In fact, Shigetaka strongly rejected the "conservative" label and criticised the "Confucian" scholars when their influence culminated in the promulgation of the Imperial Rescript on Education in 1890 and also when the National Morality Movement gained nation-wide support after 1910. However, his criticism of them has not been sufficiently studied and existing discussions of his thought predominantly focus on the kokusui issue. Other studies deal with Shigetaka as geographer, political activist, and global traveller, but tend to be rather sketchy. Above all, they do not concern themselves with his thoughts on education, which are particularly significant in light of his opposition to the "Confucian" scholars' attempts to achieve national moral control. Despite his opposition, there has been another longstanding myth about him: his kokusui advocacy and his purpose of promotion as well as popularisation of the study of the geography have been interpreted as leading towards Japan's later imperialism. One of the purposes of this study is to challenge these two myths, (Shigetaka as a "conservative" intellectual and Shigetaka as a forerunner of imperialism), by focussing on the areas of his work overlooked by the previous scholars. This thesis presents a more realistic picture of Shigetaka's intellectual activity by examining his thought in two stages: the late 1880s when he advocated Japan's economic reform supported by national (spiritual) solidarity; and after 1910 when he began his outspoken criticism of the "Confucian" scholars. By analysing his criticism of the "Confucian" scholars, the discourse attempts to establish the following two points: first, that the "Confucian" scholars were Shigetaka's intellectual opponents; second, that he was an anti-imperialist who strongly opposed Japan's march towards the "suicidal" World War Two. The thesis also identifies the close relationship between Shigetaka's beliefs regarding education and economic reforms and those of Fukuzawa Yukichi (1835-1901), the most influential enlightener of 1870s in Japan. Both Fukuzawa and Shigetaka had participated in missions overseas and both believed in Western studies, although Shigetaka warned against too indiscriminate an adoption of Westernisation because of his findings of the demeaning effect of Western culture in the South Seas. This thesis demonstrates how Shigetaka supported his reform advocacy with first-hand observations of current world affairs. He believed that Japan's survival and respect in the fast-changing world order depended on education and it was vital to promote and popularise geography as a curricular subject and as a way of understanding the contemporary world. He aimed at not only educating the people through institutions, but also enlightening the general public through journalism. Consequently, this thesis suggests that his views on education, to which insufficient weight has been given until now, are essential to understanding the intellectual activity of this "forgotten enlightener".</p>

Visions of Council Democracy

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Ask Popp-Madsen
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual History ◽  
World War ◽  
Constituent Power ◽  
Claude Lefort ◽  
The People ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
The First World War ◽  
Cornelius Castoriadis ◽  
History Of ◽  
First World

This book examines the historical emergence of the council system in Russia and Germany by the end of the First World War, it reconstructs the intellectual history of council democracy in 20th century political theory and provides in-depth analysis of council democracy in the political thought of Cornelius Castoriadis, Claude Lefort and Hannah Arendt. The book argues that council democracy can productively be interpreted through the prism of constituent power: the form-giving power of the people to decide on their own institutional forms of political co-existence. Whereas other interpreters of constituent power claim an unbridgeable gap between constituent power and constituted power, this book asserts that council democracy discloses a historically grounded way of institutionalising the constituent power. Council democracy, in this interpretation, becomes a way of controlling the constituent power without completely exhausting it, thereby giving the citizenry continual access to the powers of self-transformation, co-creation and constituent freedom.

Military Migrants: British Service Personnel in Ceylon during the Second World War

2013 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-26
Author(s):  
Ashley Jackson
Keyword(s):  
British Empire ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Office Work ◽  
World War ◽  
Service Personnel ◽  
East Indies ◽  
The People ◽  
The Many ◽  
First Time ◽  
Second World

Across the territories that comprised the British Empire, the Second World War caused many migrations, some great and some small, but all traumatic and formative for the people involved. Civilians, both local and expatriate, fled in great numbers from the threat of German or Japanese invasion; in some colonies civilians were evacuated from cities threatened by bombing or deemed militarily important; hundreds of thousands of servicemen and women moved around the world and spend significant periods of time in foreign lands – African troops resided in Asia, Indians in the East Indies and Middle East, and British servicemen and women found themselves billeted all over the Empire. Also, forming a fascinating subcategory, were the many thousands of American service personnel who served in British colonial territories. After reviewing the phenomenon of migration within the British Empire during the war, this article focuses on a case study – the experience of British (and some Australian) service personnel based in Ceylon for a range of military purposes, including office work, jungle training, and naval operations. It examines the methods used to acclimatize young service personnel, often going abroad for the first time in their lives, to the strangeness of a foreign, ‘exotic’ land. It describes the impressions the people and environment left on these wartime immigrants, before considering the recreational provisions made for them, and the sexual opportunities that sometimes arose. The article concludes that the experience of these European migrants deserves study as much as the experience of non-European servicemen and women, which has received significant attention in the scholarly literature relating to the Empire at war.

scholarly journals Peace, Conflict and Resolution (Good vs. Evil)

2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-19
Author(s):  
Arif Hossain
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
North Africa ◽  
World Order ◽  
The United States ◽  
World War ◽  
The People ◽  
The Us ◽  
The World ◽  
The Masses ◽  
Good And Evil

The immense structural inequalities of the global social /political economy can no longer be contained through consensual mechanisms of state control. The ruling classes have lost legitimacy; we are witnessing a breakdown of ruling-class hegemony on a world scale. There is good and evil among mankind; thus it necessitates the conflict between the good and evil on Earth. We are in for a period of major conflicts and great upheavals. It's generally regarded that Mencius (c.371- c.289 B.C) a student of Confucianism developed his entire philosophy from two basic propositions: the first, that Man's original nature is good; and the second, that Man's original nature becomes evil when his wishes are not fulfilled. What is good and what is evil? Philosophers of all ages have thought over this question. Each reckoned that he had solved the question once and for all, yet within a few years the problem would re-emerge with new dimensions. Repeated acts of corruption and evil action makes a man corrupt and takes away a man from his original nature. Still now majority of the people of the world give compliance to corruption because of social pressures, economic pressures, cultural pressures and political pressures. The conflict between good and evil is ancient on earth and is prevalent to this day. May be the final confrontation between the descendants of Cain and Abel is at our doorsteps. During the 2nd World War America with its European allies went into world wide military campaign to defeat Germany, Italy and Japan. When the Second World War ended in 1945 the United States of America came out as victorious. America was the first country to detonate atomic bomb in another country. During that period Russia fell into competition with America in politically colonizing countries after countries. With the fall of Communism Russia terminated its desire wanting to be the champion of the oppressed of the world. The situation in Russia continues to deteriorate, a country which until only a few years ago was a superpower. Russians are deeply disillusioned today with the new politicians in Russia, who they says "promise everything and give nothing." The Russians still strongly oppose a world order dominated by the United States. If anyone looks at or investigates the situations in other countries it can be seen that at present almost all countries of the world are similar or same in the forms of structures of corruption and evil. The Worldwide control of humanity‘s economic, social and political activities is under the helm of US corporate and military power. The US has established its control over 191 governments which are members of the United Nations. The last head of state of the former Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev on December 2012, at a conference on the future of the Middle East and the Black Sea region in the Turkish city of Istanbul, has warned the US of an imminent Soviet-like collapse if Washington persists with its hegemonic policies. Mass public protest occurred against US hegemony are mainly from Muslim countries of South East Asia, South Asia, Central Asia, West Asia, North Africa and Africa. The latest mass protests erupted in September 2012 when the divine Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was insulted by America and Israel. There were strong mass protests by people from Indonesia to Morocco and in the European countries by mostly immigrants and Australia were there are Muslim populations. This worldwide protest had occurred while the rise of the masses is ongoing against corrupt rulers in West Asia and North Africa. The masses of the people are thirsty and desperate for justice, dignity, economic welfare and human rights. Most major religions have their own sources of information on the Last Age of Mankind or the End of Times, which often include fateful battles between the forces of good and evil and cataclysmic natural disasters. Humans are evolving to a final stage of their evolution towards a 'New Age‘ that is to come which the corrupt does not understand. At present times a final battle of good versus evil on Earth will ensue. The World powers (leaders) and their entourages who are really detached from the masses have organized to keep aloft the present world order that degenerates the masses in corruption, keeps the people in unhappiness, and deprives the masses from economic well being, education and keeps promoting wars and conflicts to support corruption and evil. We are at the ?End of Times?. The Promised Messiah will come to set right what is wrong, no doubt. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bioethics.v4i1.14264 Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics 2013; 4(1):9-19

scholarly journals Peace, Conflict and Resolution (Good vs. Evil) Part 2

2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 9-21
Author(s):  
Arif Hossain
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
North Africa ◽  
World Order ◽  
The United States ◽  
World War ◽  
The People ◽  
The Us ◽  
The World ◽  
The Masses ◽  
Good And Evil

The immense structural inequalities of the global social /political economy can no longer be contained through consensual mechanisms of state control. The ruling classes have lost legitimacy; we are witnessing a breakdown of ruling-class hegemony on a world scale. There is good and evil among mankind; thus it necessitates the conflict between the good and evil on Earth. We are in for a period of major conflicts and great upheavals. It's generally regarded that Mencius (c.371-c.289 B.C) a student of Confucianism developed his entire philosophy from two basic propositions: the first, that Man's original nature is good; and the second, that Man's original nature becomes evil when his wishes are not fulfilled. What is good and what is evil? Philosophers of all ages have thought over this question. Each reckoned that he had solved the question once and for all, yet within a few years the problem would re-emerge with new dimensions. Repeated acts of corruption and evil action makes a man corrupt and takes away a man from his original nature. Still now majority of the people of the world give compliance to corruption because of social pressures, economic pressures, cultural pressures and political pressures. The conflict between good and evil is ancient on earth and is prevalent to this day. May be the final confrontation between the descendants of Cain and Abel is at our doorsteps. During the 2nd World War America with its European allies went into world wide military campaign to defeat Germany, Italy and Japan. When the Second World War ended in 1945 the United States of America came out as victorious. America was the first country to detonate atomic bomb in another country. During that period Russia fell into competition with America in politically colonizing countries after countries. With the fall of Communism Russia terminated its desire wanting to be the champion of the oppressed of the world. The situation in Russia continues to deteriorate, a country which until only a few years ago was a superpower. Russians are deeply disillusioned today with the new politicians in Russia, who they says "promise everything and give nothing." The Russians still strongly oppose a world order dominated by the United States. If anyone looks at or investigates the situations in other countries it can be seen that at present almost all countries of the world are similar or same in the forms of structures of corruption and evil. The Worldwide control of humanity‘s economic, social and political activities is under the helm of US corporate and military power. The US has established its control over 191 governments which are members of the United Nations. The last head of state of the former Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev on December 2012, at a conference on the future of the Middle East and the Black Sea region in the Turkish city of Istanbul, has warned the US of an imminent Soviet-like collapse if Washington persists with its hegemonic policies. Mass public protest occurred against US hegemony are mainly from Muslim countries of South East Asia, South Asia, Central Asia, West Asia, North Africa and Africa. The latest mass protests erupted in September 2012 when the divine Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was insulted by America and Israel. There were strong mass protests by people from Indonesia to Morocco and in the European countries by mostly immigrants and Australia were there are Muslim populations. This worldwide protest had occurred while the rise of the masses is ongoing against corrupt rulers in West Asia and North Africa. The masses of the people are thirsty and desperate for justice, dignity, economic welfare and human rights. Most major religions have their own sources of information on the Last Age of Mankind or the End of Times, which often include fateful battles between the forces of good and evil and cataclysmic natural disasters. Humans are evolving to a final stage of their evolution towards a ?New Age‘ that is to come which the corrupt does not understand. At present times a final battle of good versus evil on Earth will ensue. The World powers (leaders) and their entourages who are really detached from the masses have organized to keep aloft the present world order that degenerates the masses in corruption, keeps the people in unhappiness, and deprives the masses from economic well being, education and keeps promoting wars and conflicts to support corruption and evil. We are at the ?End of Times?. The Promised Messiah will come to set right what is wrong, no doubt. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bioethics.v4i2.16372 Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics 2013; 4(2) 9-21

A Jewish Italienische Reise during the Nazi period

2020 ◽  
pp. 002200942091891
Author(s):  
Sarah Wobick-Segev
Keyword(s):  
World Order ◽  
Second World War ◽  
World War ◽  
Night Time ◽  
German Jews ◽  
South Tyrol ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
German Jewish ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Second World

This article unravels the complexities revealed in the act of traveling to and photographing Fascist Italy in order to consider the intricacies of a particularly German-Jewish engagement with contested and highly politicized spaces and scenes. It examines four specific images in the album: namely, one photo from South Tyrol/Alto Adige along with the three images from a Fascist night-time rally in Venice. Together, they visually capture the Italian celebration of its conquest of Ethiopia in May 1936. I argue that for these German-Jewish tourists Italy served as a means to critically contemplate Fascist politics and to understand their place as German Jews in the contemporary world order. The coincidental timing of Italy’s victory over Ethiopian forces afforded the travelers with an unusual, though not entirely unique opportunity to witness, and participate in, a Fascist spectacle, even as they negotiated its meaning. The timing of their visit also allowed the individual(s) to make both a visual and a brief textual statement about colonialism in its last throes, shortly before the Second World War broke out and before the beginning of decolonization.

Superior Orders, Nuclear Warfare, and the Dictates of Conscience: The Dilemma of Military Obedience in the Atomic Age

1961 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guenter Lewy
Keyword(s):  
World War I ◽  
International Law ◽  
Nuclear Weapons ◽  
World War ◽  
The People ◽  
Military Tribunal ◽  
War Crimes Trials ◽  
The Many ◽  
Nuclear Warfare ◽  
The Military

When Francis Gary Powers was asked by the presiding judge of the Soviet military tribunal trying him for espionage whether he had not considered the possibility that his U-2 flight might provoke armed conflict, the captured pilot answered, “The people who sent me should think of these things. My job was to carry out orders. I do not think it was my responsibility to make such decisions.” This article deals with a similar problem, a predicament which to this day, fortunately, has remained hypothetical, but which may become distressingly real at some time in the future. It concerns the unenviable position of the military subordinate commanded to use nuclear weapons, who may be punished today if he disobeys and prosecuted tomorrow if he obeys. The discussion initially evolves around three issues in international law: (1) the validity of the plea of superior orders as a defense in war crimes trials; (2) the question of the legality of using nuclear weapons; and (3) the present status and future of the law of war. That these problem areas are intimately related should become clear as we proceed.The disregard for humanitarian and moral considerations which has increasingly characterized the conduct of war in the twentieth century, and, more recently, the development of nuclear weapons—the tools of mass extermination par excellence—have led many students of international law to conclude that the laws of war are dead. Grotius' doctrine of the temperamenta belli, requiring belligerents to conduct hostilities with regard for the principles of humanity and chivalry, as well as the many conventions drawn up prior to World War I in order to regulate the use of violence, are said to have become largely obsolete.

Introduction

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-41
Author(s):  
Duncan Bell
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual History ◽  
World Order ◽  
The Political ◽  
World War ◽  
Racial Categorization ◽  
The First World War ◽  
History Of ◽  
Utopian Thought ◽  
First World

This introductory chapter explores some of the most ambitious ideas about the unification of Anglo-America, concentrating on the years between 1880 and the First World War. During that tumultuous period, numerous members of the intellectual elite on both sides of the Atlantic — scholars, journalists, novelists, preachers, and politicians — encouraged closer cooperation, even political integration, between the two powers. The chapter analyzes the boldest arguments about Anglo-America, the dreams that motivated and shaped them, and the discourses in which they were embedded, with the intention of illuminating a pivotal moment in both the intellectual history of world order and the development of modern utopian thought. Ultimately, the chapter sketches the political and geopolitical context in which the debates occurred, considers the self-consciously visionary character of many unionist claims as well as the conceptual elusiveness of racial categorization.

Design, power and colonisation: decolonial and anti-oppressive explorations on three approaches for Design for Sustainability

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas B. TORRETTA ◽  
Lizette REITSMA
Keyword(s):  
Power Relations ◽  
Colonial Power ◽  
Power Structures ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
Design For Sustainability ◽  
The People ◽  
Reflexive Practice ◽  
Cross Country ◽  
Design Power ◽  
Relational Issue

Our contemporary world is organized in a modern/colonial structure. As people, professions and practices engage in cross-country Design for Sustainability (DfS), projects have the potential of sustaining or changing modern/colonial power structures. In such project relations, good intentions in working for sustainability do not directly result in liberation from modern/colonial power structures. In this paper we introduce three approaches in DfS that deal with power relations. Using a Freirean (1970) decolonial perspective, we analyse these approaches to see how they can inform DfS towards being decolonial and anti-oppressive. We conclude that steering DfS to become decolonial or colonizing is a relational issue based on the interplay between the designers’ position in the modern/colonial structure, the design approach chosen, the place and the people involved in DfS. Hence, a continuous critical reflexive practice is needed in order to prevent DfS from becoming yet another colonial tool.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document