Kiten toshiteno sengo (Peace Philosophy and Constitutional Theory in Postwar Japan and other Essays - History of Political Thought and the Contemporary World)

This book is a collection of essays on political thought in modern and present-day Japan. While the oldest philosophy discussed here is that of FUKUZAWA Yukichi, the most recent subjects are the 2015 debate on security legislation and the 2016 declaration of the Emperor's abdication.
 
For readers who are unfamiliar with the subjects of political thought, a good starting point would perhaps be Chapter 5, “Historical Landscapes of Modern History.” This chapter is a collection of short historical travelogues, mostly about the places around Tokyo. It will help readers develop a better understanding of the essays on the history of ideas discussed in this book by enabling them to imagine the past based on the present landscapes.
 
Part II, “The Space of Intellectual History,” contains essays on intellectual history in the first half. Written in a somewhat academic style, it discusses famous thinkers such as FUKUZAWA Yukichi, YOSHINO Sakuzo, and WATSUJI Tetsuro. The second half of Part II contains research and critiques on the Japanese monarchy, while Part III offers an account of the history of postwar peace thought and a discussion on the right of collective self-defense in the present day. Each of these works attempts to position the latest political topics within intellectual history and reexamine them from new angles.
 
Compared to the above-mentioned topics, Part I, “Politics and the Problem of Fiction,” is a collection of writings that more closely resembles an examination of what may be termed “principles of politics.” It contains works that were written with the intention of conveying a mode of thought peculiar to political philosophy in general and not limited to modern and present-day Japanese thought.
 
I hope that this book will help readers who are interested in modern and contemporary Japanese thought and who are not satisfied with superficial commentaries on the political issues of today to go back to the principles of philosophy.
 

 

(Written by KARUBE Tadashi, Professor, Graduate Schools for Law and Politics / 2020)