Does Japan have philosophy?

Japan has philosophy.

"History of Japanese Philosophy" by Zhu Qian

The emergence of Japanese philosophy

Japanese philosophical thought is a social consciousness generated on the basis of Japan's unique economy Form, it has its own characteristics and development rules. In order to adapt to its own socio-economic development conditions and the needs of class struggle, Japan has absorbed a large number of philosophical ideas from advanced countries: initially Chinese Confucianism and Buddhism, and later various modern and modern Western philosophical ideas. These thoughts were combined with Japan's original Shinto thoughts. With the changes in social economic development and class struggle, they experienced a gradually deepening development process: at the beginning, Buddhist teachings became the dominant thought in Japan, and then Confucianism Feudal Taoism as the center occupied a dominant position, and finally Western natural science was introduced, making reason further independent of faith and independent, and gradually became a philosophy in the true sense. Throughout this process, there is a struggle between materialism and idealism.

Tracing back to the origin

Philosophy before the Heian period Around the 5th century, Chinese characters and Confucianism were introduced to Japan, and Buddhism was also introduced through Korea in the mid-6th century. They had a great influence on Japanese culture and thought. Japan's written philosophical thoughts first appeared in works such as "The Vimalakirti Sutra" which is said to have been written by Prince Shotoku at the end of the 6th century or the beginning of the 7th century. At the beginning of the 7th century, Prince Shotoku sent overseas students to study in China (Sui Dynasty) in order to prepare the ideological conditions for reforming the political system, and directly introduced Confucian and Buddhist ideas. The ideological basis of the "17-Article Constitution" he promulgated is Confucianism and Buddhist teachings. Article 1 of "Harmony is the most precious thing" and Article 4 of "The foundation of governing the people must be ritual" both come from Confucianism; Article 2 of "Reverence for the Three Treasures, which are Buddha, Dharma and Sangha" and "absolute renunciation" in Article 10, all belong to Buddhist thought; the remaining articles mostly use Confucian classics and historical materials. Confucianism played a great role in Japan at that time. During the establishment process of the ancient emperor system, China's legal system was adopted to form a centralized state. In the second half of the 7th century, the influence of Confucianism was particularly significant. At that time, the Japanese government had regarded Confucianism as an ideological system conducive to consolidating its dominance and protected it. The Kojiki and Nihon Shoki, compiled in the 8th century, also have a Confucian flavor. These two historical classics played a role in safeguarding the emperor system.

Buddhism and Japanese Philosophy

After Buddhism was introduced to Japan through Korea, it was not a religion with doctrine as its core at first, but only the belief and worship of Buddha statues and Buddhist scriptures. Nobles once used Buddhism as a tool in political struggle. At that time, the Japanese government believed that Buddha could protect the country and the royal family, so it issued the "Order of Monks and Nuns" in the early 8th century, turning Buddhism into the state religion, thus giving Buddhist ideas the upper hand. At this time, although Japan's original Shintoism continued to spread, it was actually under the guidance of Buddhist thought.

In the Nara period, Buddhism was more closely integrated with politics, strengthening its status as the state religion. Shinto and Buddhism began to reconcile and compromise in doctrine at this time, but Shinto was still placed in a subordinate position. Japan's serious study of the contents of Buddhist scriptures began in the Heian Dynasty (8th century). In the early 9th century, the famous monks Saicho and Kukai came to China (Tang Dynasty) to study. After returning to Japan, they founded the Tendai Sect and the Shingon Sect respectively, establishing and spreading Mahayana Buddhism in Japan. Although the Japanese Tendai Sect and the Chinese Tendai Sect have the same name, their teachings are somewhat different.

Japanese Buddhist philosophy is also based on the so-called idealist views such as "there is no other way in the world, only the work of one mind" and "three thousand thoughts." In addition to being given the task of "protecting the country", Tendai and Shingon were also regarded as worldviews in Japanese life at that time. At this time Buddhism gained the status of independent activity in Japan. By the 10th century, preaching on the concept of the Pure Land appeared, Buddhist ideas began to penetrate into the common people, and the reconciliation and combination of Shintoism and Buddhism also developed.

The Development of Japanese Sectarian Philosophy

The philosophy from the Kamakura Period to the Meiji Restoration entered the Kamakura Period. Due to the decline of the aristocratic power of the Heian Dynasty, feudal relations gradually developed locally, forming the samurai class. By the 13th century, social unrest and the hardship of farmers led to the need to simplify religious rituals. The religious community adapted to this situation and began to see new trends. In the past, Japanese Buddhism was mainly aimed at aristocrats. At this time, the idea of ????facing the masses emerged, and sects such as Pure Land Buddhism, Zen Buddhism, Shin Buddhism, Nichiren Buddhism, and Toki Buddhism emerged.

From the Heian period to the Kamakura period, Japanese philosophical thought was mainly characterized by Buddhist teachings. In fact, it was religious superstition, and it was far from a worldview in the true philosophical sense. The worldview in the philosophical sense only began to appear later when Zen Buddhism was combined with Neo-Confucianism in China's Song and Ming Dynasties.

In the 17th century, after the Tokugawa shogunate consolidated the feudal system, Confucianism replaced Buddhism and became the mainstream of thought in maintaining the rule of the shogunate. As the ideology governing the four peoples of the samurai (samurai), farmers, workers, and merchants, Confucianism The impact is growing. At that time, the Confucian system in Japan was mainly divided into the Zhu Xi School, the Yangming School and the Ancient School; Zhu Xi School was an official school and had long held a dominant position. In addition, retro Shinto and some independent schools and doctrines also emerged.

Philosophical views of various sects

①Zhu Xi School. Fujiwara Xingwo was the pioneer of this school, and his student Lin Luoshan played a great role in making Zhuxue the official school of the Tokugawa shogunate. Some representatives of this school used rationalism to criticize irrationalism in their struggle against Buddhism and Shintoism. Within this school, there was also a contradiction between materialist tendencies and idealist tendencies. For example, although Anton Sheng'an, Beihara Yixuan and others all started from Zhu Xi's view of Li and Qi, they finally attributed their own world view to Li and Qi. The theory of unity is close to materialism; Sai'" class=link>; Yamazaki Sai and Miyake Shosai attribute their world view to monism and fall into idealism. Yamazaki Sai and the Mito School even completely transformed Zhu Xi into a Shinto Mito School advocated the theory of "righteousness and honor", and its idea of ??respecting the king and rejecting barbarians helped to re-consolidate feudal rule. At that time, Japan's feudal class tried to use Zhuzi School to rationalize the feudal hierarchy. However, by the 17th century, with the development of commodity production, With the increasing development and the rise of businessmen, Zhu Zixue began to lose its influence, and was replaced by the Ancient School.

②The philosophers of this school rejected Confucianism after the Han and Tang Dynasties. Soyuki, Ito Jinsai and Ogiyo Kurai. Both Nisai and Kurai used qi monism to oppose Zhu Xi's view of qi. This group of scholars appeared as folk heretical thinkers, representing non-establishment parties and advocating restoration in name. A philosophical revolution was launched against the Zhu Xi School in Japan. In addition, another opposition to the Zhu Xi School emerged—the Yangming School.

③The Yangming School was founded by Nakae Fujiki. The conscience theory of Mingxue. Other representatives include Kumasawa Tozan, Sato Issai, Oshio Heihachiro, etc., who were also influenced by Yoshida Shoin during the late shogunate period. Oshio once led the poor and suburban farmers of Osaka. The scholars of this group did not consciously form a group, but each believed in Wang Yangming's teachings. Some of them had some dialectical elements in their methodology. Generally speaking, Yangming's theory played a negative role in China. Japan's Yomei School promoted social progress to a certain extent.

④Retro Shinto In the early period of the Tokugawa Shogunate, this type of Shinto emerged. It opposed the attachment of Shinto to Buddhism or Confucianism in the past, and opposed the use of Confucian and Buddhist ideas to interpret Japanese classics and Shinto. This school of thought was first advocated by the priest Heda Harumi, Kamo Mabuchi and Moto Nobunaga developed it, and the master of it was Hirata Atsuhin. Based on the myths recorded in ancient Japanese books such as "Kojiki", they advocated the philosophy of "Japanese Spirit", advocated the "Way of the Imperial Kingdom", and promoted the "Spirit of the Imperial Kingdom". They claimed that Japanese Shinto came from the gods and that only this way was "the Way of the Empire." "The true way"; the Japanese nation is the descendant of Amaterasu and should rule the world. This Shinto theory became a major pillar of the thought of respecting the king at the end of the Tokugawa shogunate, and had a great influence on the restoration of the monarchy during the Meiji Restoration. Meiji Restoration (1868), the Shinto shrines as the national Shinto basically inherited the theory of retro Shinto, making this theory full of religious superstitions an ideological weapon that dominated the Japanese people during this period, and served as a basis for the militarists and fascists in foreign affairs.

⑤Non-traditional schools of thought. From the 17th to the 18th century, some independent schools and theories began to flow into Japan. From around the 1820s, many Japanese scholars began to flow into Japan. The study of Orchidism, that is, the study of Western academic knowledge through Dutch, and the acceptance of knowledge from Western natural sciences and other aspects, has caused changes in the world view, and some people with critical spirit, self-awareness or materialistic thoughts have emerged and do not belong to any tradition. Thinkers of the school, such as Ando Masaki, Tominaga Nakaki, Miura Umezono, Minagawa Kien, Shima Jianghan, Yamagata Pantao, Kamada Yanagi, etc.

During the entire 260 years of the Tokugawa period, only Masaki Ando thoroughly criticized and negated the feudal system and its ideology. From the standpoint of working farmers, he proposed a social concept of absolute equality without domination and exploitation; Tominaga Nakaki recognized The basis of thought is matter, and he applied this understanding to his historical method; Miura Umeen was full of originality and established a "system"; Minagawa Kien based his "Kaiwu Chengwu" on the "Book of Changes" understanding, founded "Kaiwu Xue", and completed Japan's original category theory; Sima Jianghan was a materialistic and advanced citizen thinker, with natural philosophical insights in natural science physics, and advocated the theory of earth motion; Shan Katahata was an atheist and materialist and became a pioneer of practical learning in Japan; Kamada Yanagi was knowledgeable and not only criticized Confucianism, Shinto and Buddhism, but also came close to materialism in explaining the relationship between knowledge and senses. In addition, in the first half of the 18th century, with the further improvement of the status of merchants, the study of mind appeared. Its representatives were Ishida Umeiwa, Teshima Takuan, Nakazawa Michichi and others. They are all thinkers of industrial and commercial people. They believe that "frugality", "integrity" and "diligence" are all virtues that people are born with. They are the common aspirations of all people in the feudal system, including farmers, workers and merchants. Their thoughts have not yet reached the point of negating the feudal system, but they already contain the idea of ??equality in the world. The above-mentioned independent schools and doctrines prepared certain ideological conditions for the development of atheism and materialist philosophy after the Meiji Restoration.

For about 1,000 years before the Tokugawa shogunate, idealism mainly dominated Japanese thinking. However, with the collapse of the Tokugawa shogunate, the official ideological system of the shogunate, Zhuxue, also lost its dominance.

Japanese philosophy under the influence of Western philosophy

Philosophy from the Meiji Restoration to World War II After the Meiji Restoration, Japan absorbed a large amount of Western philosophy. In the process of introducing Western philosophy , there is always a struggle between the two lines of materialism and idealism. In the early Meiji era, some famous Enlightenment thinkers introduced British and French philosophy: the Western Zhou Dynasty transplanted the positivism of French philosopher A. Comte and the utilitarianism of British philosopher J.S. Mill, and first translated Western philosophy as " Philosophy"; Fukuzawa Yukichi spread British empiricism and utilitarianism; Nakae Zhaomin imported French mechanical materialism and the democratic thought of French Enlightenment thinker J.-J. Rousseau. Around the 20th year of Meiji (1887), with the emperor The establishment of absolutism began to introduce German philosophy, and at the same time some idealists appeared, such as Nishimura Shigeki, Inoue Tetsujiro, Inoue Madoka, etc. Nishimura Shigeki combined philosophy and Confucianism; Inoue Tetsujiro first introduced German philosophy and proposed phenomenon-as-realism, a philosophical thought that is essentially idealism; Inoue Madoka melted philosophy and Buddhism into one furnace. Their philosophies all promoted Eastern thought and upheld the emperor's absolutism.

Materialism and Idealism

Before and after the 30th year of Meiji (1897), there were two debates about materialism and idealism: one was between Kato Hiroyuki and Genrya Yujiro. It was triggered by the criticism of the book "Destruction of Materialism" written by Madoka Inoue. It was triggered by the criticism of the book "Continuing One and a Half Years (Without God and No Soul)" by Nakae Zhaomin, etc., by Tetsujiro Inoue and Goro Takahashi. of. Although these two debates were quite fierce, the debaters still lacked a clear understanding of philosophical materialism, so the debates did not play a significant role in promoting the development of materialism in Japan at that time. During this period, Kotoku Shusui, Katayama Tsun and Toshihiko appeared in the materialist camp. They inherited Nakae Zhaomin’s materialism and introduced and spread socialist theory. In particular, Kotoku Shusui performed outstandingly in theoretical propaganda. The book "The Essence of Socialism" he wrote not only reveals the viewpoint of historical materialism, but also contains some dialectical thoughts. In 1904, he and Toshihiko Liyan translated the "Communist Manifesto". He also shined in atheism through his criticism of Christianity. From the late 1920s to the mid-1930s of the Meiji period, German philosophy continued to be transplanted to Japan in large numbers, gradually gaining the upper hand in the ideological world and becoming the mainstream of Japanese philosophy. At the beginning, the philosophy of I. Kant and G.W.F. Hegel was introduced, and later neo-Kantianism, phenomenology, existential philosophy, etc. were introduced one after another. Neo-Kantianism once became the "new trend of thought" in the Taisho era.

Through the study and digestion of Western philosophy, especially German philosophy, in the Taisho and Showa eras, some idealist philosophers emerged, such as Kuwaki Yanki, Asami Sanjuro, Hatano Seiichi, Kihira Masami Uta Kiichiro, Nishida Kitaro, Tanabe Gen et al. Among them, Kitaro Nishida established the so-called original Japanese "Nishida Philosophy" and proposed the "logic of place" centered on the so-called "dialectics of absolute nothing" and the logic of "absolute contradictions are themselves identical"; Gen Tanabe constructed the so-called " Absolute Dialectics" and "The Logic of Seeds." Their philosophy is basically composed of neo-Kantianism and existentialism plus some elements from Buddhism. After Nishida, Tetsuro'" class=link>; Tetsuro and Miki Kiyoshi appeared. Tetsuro developed his hermeneutics from the perspective of existentialism and tried to establish his own human science. Miki Kiyoshi studied the so-called "human science" "The Form of Marx" also started from existential philosophy, and he finally combined existentialism with Japanese Buddhism. His contribution was to bring Japanese pulpit philosophy into contact with Marxism, attracting many young people to study Marxist philosophy.

Due to the success of the October Socialist Revolution in Russia, the rise of the labor movement in Japan and the development of socialist ideological trends, dialectical materialism and historical materialism began to spread widely in Japan. Marx's "Capital" The Japanese translation of "The Complete Works of Marx and Engels" came out in 1920, and the Japanese translation of "The Complete Works of Marx and Engels" began to be published in 1928. As a result, many materialist philosophers began to work in Japanese philosophy in 1925, including Kazuo Fukumoto, Hajime Kawakami, and Jun Yamakawa. The fierce debate set off an upsurge in studying Marxist philosophy, and played a great role in further studying and understanding Marxist philosophy. Kawakami Hajime, Tosaka Jun, and Nagata Hiroshi had a relatively correct and in-depth understanding of Marxist philosophy. . In 1932, Jun Tosaka, Hiron Saegae, Kunio Oka and others organized the "Materialism Research Association" and published the official magazine "Materialism Research" to further explore and popularize Marxist philosophy and criticize various idealisms. school, and opposed Japan's fascism and the launch of an aggressive war, leaving a glorious legacy in the history of Japanese thought. In 1938, this seminar was disbanded by the Japanese government, and Jun Tosaka died in prison after being arrested. He was arrested many times for participating in the association's activities, and his health was damaged.

The fall of philosophy

With the expansion of Japan's war of aggression against China and the Pacific War, Japan's philosophy fell into more and more troubles. Beyond the fascist situation, Japaneseism advocating the so-called "Japanese spirit" was very rampant, and fascist ideas and irrationalism were rampant. Soon, the so-called "world history philosophy", also known as the "world history school", emerged, and its representative figure was Kosaka. Masaaki, Takayama Iwao, Nishitani Keiji, etc., they provided theoretical basis for Japanese imperialism’s war of aggression and beautified the act of aggression as “the behavior of world history”. Kitaro Nishida and Moto Tanabe also directly or indirectly to a certain extent. The so-called "Imperial Way Philosophy" that directly serves as the mouthpiece of the military is even more crazy. It spreads the ethics of "absolute obedience to the Emperor", fabricates the myth of "the Kingdom of God is undefeated", and unscrupulously poisons the Japanese people, all the way to Japan. The demise of imperialism.

Philosophy after World War II

After World War II, with the rise of democratic thought, Marxist philosophy that had been suppressed and banned in the past entered the scene. During the Renaissance period, the once noisy Japanism, "Imperial Philosophy" and "World History Philosophy" quickly disappeared. Progressive philosophers such as Matsumura Kazuo, Furuzai Yushige, Mori Koichi, Yamada Sakahito, etc., worked hard to introduce foreign Marx. While actively criticizing the philosophies of Nishida and Tanabe as well as idealist schools such as existentialism. Professor Detaka of the University of Tokyo and Nishida's student, the famous philosopher Yanagida Kenjuro, etc., switched from the idealist camp to the materialist camp, which caused great repercussions in the philosophical world. During this period, the works and research on Marxist philosophy were spread and studied. Published in large quantities in periodicals. Mao Zedong's "On Practice" and "On Contradiction" were introduced to Japan. Materialist research societies have been established in many places in Japan. The study of Marxist philosophy has reached a new stage in terms of breadth and depth. From the late 1940s to the early 1950s, there was a debate about "subjectivity." Umemoto Katsumi and others tried to use Nishida Tanabe's philosophy and existentialism to "fill the gap" in Marxist philosophy, but they were opposed by Matsumura Kazuto and others. criticism.

Since the late 1960s, there has been another debate among materialist philosophers surrounding the issue of "practical materialism." Some people believe that Marxist philosophy should be "dialectical-historical materialism" or "practical materialism" instead of "dialectical materialism and historical materialism" and try to establish a new Marxist philosophical system; some people object. This discussion is closely related to the debate on the object, structure, expression method and system of Marxist philosophy held by philosophers in the Democratic Republic of Germany in the 1960s.

After World War II, Japanese scholars who studied the dialectics of nature, such as Mitsuo Taketani and Shoichi Sakata, achieved new results. There has been a debate between Marxist philosophers and analytic philosophers about the relationship between formal logic and dialectics.

On the other hand, the bourgeois philosophical schools in Europe and the United States exerted a strong influence on Japan’s philosophical circles, especially university forums, after the war. Modern philosophical trends that have great influence in some major Western countries have communicators, elaborators or followers in Japan.

Pragmatism

Pragmatism was introduced to Japan by Tanaka Oudou and others in the early 20th century. It was widely spread in the 1920s. Later, it was not suitable for the invasion and expansion of Japanese militarists. needs and gradually lose influence. After the war, in the context of economic revival and rapid industrialization based on the technological revolution, pragmatist philosophy resurfaced during the U.S. military occupation and had a clear impact on both Japanese academia and practical life.

Existentialism ideas were introduced to Japan as early as the beginning of the 20th century. He Tetsuro once introduced the views of F.W. Nietzsche and S. Kierkegaard. This subjective idealist philosophy had an extensive and profound impact on the spiritual life of the Japanese people, causing an atmosphere of pessimism, hesitation, depression, and uneasiness to envelope Japan after the war. Some Japanese philosophers also integrate Buddhist teachings with existentialism, viewing Buddhism as an Asian type of existentialism, and saying that existentialism is modernized Buddhism.

Logical positivism has been around since the 1960s, and phenomenology has been introduced and discussed by quite a few scholars in Japan since the 1970s. In addition, philosophy of science, philosophy of language and structuralism have also appeared in Japanese philosophical thought circles. There are also many philosophical historians and philosophers who have studied the history of philosophy, the philosophy of Kant and Hegel, Buddhism and Confucianism, and issues such as human beings, alienation, and humanism. Some scholars combine certain views from several different philosophies, and some open up new fields such as comparative philosophy and comparative aesthetics. The above-mentioned situations have caused a variety of thoughts in the modern Japanese philosophy world.