[Book Review] "Fukuzawa Yukichi's Intellectual Struggle: Beyond Life and Death" (by Hiroaki Matsuzawa)

2021/06/18

"Fukuzawa Yukichi's Intellectual Struggle: Beyond Life and Death" is a collection of 14 essays written between 1979 and 2012 by Hiroaki Matsuzawa, a distinguished scholar of the history of political thought in the late Edo and Meiji periods. Eleven of these essays deal directly with Fukuzawa Yukichi or the history of Fukuzawa studies. Of the remaining three, two are essays on the flow of natural rights theory in the early Meiji period, and one is a study of Masao Maruyama's history of thought. However, the two essays on natural rights serve as reference material for the consideration of Fukuzawa's natural rights and social contract theory in Chapter 3. Furthermore, it is natural that the study of Masao Maruyama's history of thought relates to the history of Fukuzawa studies, considering that Fukuzawa held significant weight as a subject of Maruyama's research.

In this way, this book is a collection of essays directly and indirectly related to Fukuzawa Yukichi, written by the author over a period of more than 30 years. However, it is not a mere hodgepodge of essays; a robust underlying interest runs through the entire work, making it a cohesive piece of writing.

What is the interest that runs through this book? When considering Fukuzawa's thought, the challenges he faced can be broadly divided into two categories. One is the challenge of how to establish independent individuals, and the other is the challenge of how those independent individuals form a society. Among these, the author attempts to extract the latter as the core of Fukuzawa's thought.

According to the author, Fukuzawa "took the formation of the people, rather than the creation of the state-governance mechanism, as his own task in the formation of the nation-state" (p. 59). This "formation of the people" is built upon individuals interacting and forming a society. The author argues that what Fukuzawa considered the foundation of this social formation were "voluntary associations" (pp. 9, 22, 56, 85, 140, 145), which he called "Keio Gijuku Shachu," as well as "voluntary autonomous associations" (p. 143), "autonomous groups" (pp. 114, 138), and "'private' voluntary groups" (p. 114). Specifically, these are diverse private organizations such as schools, research groups, media outlets, companies, industry associations, clubs, and volunteer organizations. Although the expressions vary—such as "voluntary associations" and "autonomous groups"—these terms, which share the same essential meaning, can be called keywords that run through the entire book (Note: In this review, for the sake of simplicity, I will hereafter use the unified term "voluntary associations").

In relation to these voluntary associations, what the author pays most attention to is the "governance by the people" (jinmin no sei) discussed by Fukuzawa in "Gakusha Anshinron" (On the Reassurance of Scholars). Reflecting on his own research on Fukuzawa, the author states, "What resonated most in my heart was... 'Gakusha Anshinron.' Here, Fukuzawa presents a new concept of 'governance by the people' as opposed to 'governance by the government'" (p. 308). Furthermore, the longest quotation in the book is from "Gakusha Anshinron" in Chapter 4 (pp. 142–143). From these points, it can be said that the core of Fukuzawa's thought that the author wishes to extract lies there.

In the passage quoted by the author from "Gakusha Anshinron," Fukuzawa argues as follows: Engaging in "national affairs" (kokusei) does not only mean becoming a bureaucrat or a politician. What the people do in the private sector is also "national affairs," and this includes schools, scholarship, newspapers, public speaking and oratory, agricultural management, trade, domestic products, land reclamation, transportation, trading companies, and even associations of rickshaw pullers—all of which are many times more numerous than "governance by the government." Carrying out and managing these things is "governance by the commoners" or "governance by the people," and it is unexpectedly powerful, often being something that "cannot be controlled by the governance of the government." Only when this "governance by the commoners" and "governance by the people" flourish will a "firm sense of civil rights" be established.

In this quoted section, Fukuzawa says that private activities such as the economy are also "national affairs" in the sense that they support the nation. His main point could be interpreted as criticizing the excessive political orientation of the youth at the time and recommending active engagement in various private activities. However, the author offers a deeper insight, viewing such private activities as the activities of "voluntary autonomous associations that share inherent public functions," and judges that Fukuzawa "made the creation of such autonomous groups in areas other than politics his immediate task (.....)" (emphasis by the author; same hereafter). Furthermore, the author sees that Fukuzawa considered it an "immediate task" because he believed that fulfilling that task would "consequently affect the government and national affairs." In this respect, the author's interpretation is that Fukuzawa advocated "governance by the commoners" for the sake of a true transformation of politics in the narrow sense (p. 143).

From a similar perspective, in Chapter 4, the author states that Fukuzawa considered the diverse formation of the aforementioned voluntary associations as a "prerequisite for the system of parliament to demonstrate its inherent functions" (p. 115). Even if a parliamentary system or a civil rights system were established, Fukuzawa believed that without a "political culture of the people" (ibid.) that forms voluntary associations, these would be nothing more than formal systems and would not lead to the formation of a true nation-state.

The author focuses on Fukuzawa's Western experience described in "The Autobiography of Fukuzawa Yukichi" as the catalyst for Fukuzawa's realization that voluntary associations lie at the foundation of Western civilization. While staying in London in 1862 as a member of the Shogunate mission, Fukuzawa saw a petition submitted to the government by a certain British "association." It was a petition that severely criticized the lawless response of the British government and ministers toward Japan. The author emphasizes that this experience was a great surprise to Fukuzawa, enough for him to record it later in his "Autobiography." From that perspective, Part I excavates and investigates the details of this British "association," the sender, and the content of the petition mentioned in the "Autobiography" as much as possible.

However, regarding the theme of "voluntary associations" as the root of Fukuzawa's thought, the core of this book is undoubtedly Part II. The Fukuzawa depicted there sought the function of "balance" against the "excessive power" of the government in diverse voluntary associations (p. 114). Furthermore, as something to support the activities of voluntary associations, he worked on forming habits of "socializing," "public speaking," and "public discussion" to smooth mutual communication and consensus-building among "peers" (p. 83). This was also the "task of 'originating (..)' public speaking and debate" for the entire nation (p. 118). Regarding scholarship, he considered progress within a group and carried out a "revolutionary shift (.....) in the view of learning" from "book-reading centered" to "emphasizing oral communication" (p. 119).

While extracting these thoughts of Fukuzawa, it should not be forgotten that the author also sees in them the "intellectual struggle of Fukuzawa Yukichi" that forms the title of this book. In order to "'originate (..)' a domestic history of civilization" (p. 174) through the widespread formation of voluntary associations, Fukuzawa had to take on the "urgent task (.....)" (p. 176) of "creating consensus from among 'differing opinions and disputes,'" engage in the "'originating (..)' of public speaking and debate" (p. 118), and carry out a "revolutionary shift (.....) in the view of learning" (p. 119). It goes without saying that the author views "originating" and "revolutionary shift" as extremely difficult undertakings. Moreover, since Fukuzawa, on the one hand, clearly recognized the "limits of rationality in humans and human relationships" (p. 126) and was "more aware than anyone of the difficulty" (pp. 128–129) of making debate viable in Japan, Fukuzawa's struggle must have been all the more fierce. Furthermore, for Fukuzawa, who was among the first to take the lead on the path of independence, the "device" of public speaking and debate, which was to become a means of new social formation, was a "method chosen as if seeking life in the midst of death" (p. 137), as the author expresses Fukuzawa's bitter struggle.

Furthermore, while recognizing that such "reform of culture" in Japan was the original task, in "Transition of People's Way of Thinking," Fukuzawa had to face the problems of the "intensification of feelings of dissatisfaction" among the people and the "friction between the government and the people" brought about by "recent civilization." For this reason, in that book, he had to temporarily set aside the main subject of "reform of culture" and present a prompt parliamentary cabinet system as a "symptomatic treatment." There, too, it can be said that the author sees Fukuzawa's intellectual struggle, which was forced to become "ambivalent" (pp. 207–208).

Regarding the aforementioned discussion of Fukuzawa in this book, I would like to consider two points concerning its perspective.

The first point is that a perspective of political thought runs through it. Economic thought begins with the relationship between people and things, but political thought begins with the relationship between people and people. Robinson Crusoe, even when he was alone on a deserted island, conducted economic life and reflected on the economy. Even though he was alone, his economic thought existed. In contrast, political thought for Robinson begins only after the appearance of Friday. In that respect, seeing the core of Fukuzawa's thought in the formation of voluntary associations, which are relationships between people (.......), can be said to be precisely the approach of political thought.

Similarly, the author often considers Fukuzawa's significance of voluntary associations in relation to politics in the narrow sense. One of the author's interests regarding voluntary associations lies in the aspect of the influence (........) from citizens toward politics, as seen in expressions such as "a civic public that debates politically (....)" (p. 141) and "voluntary autonomous associations that share (.........) inherent public functions" (p. 143). This also leads to considering the significance of "various forms of citizen autonomy and NGOs" (p. 308) in the modern era. From this interest, the author focuses on the point that Fukuzawa considers voluntary associations as the "basic principle of British politics" (p. 138), and particularly sheds light on the points connecting them to the "far-reaching vision of realizing parliamentary government (pp. 107–108)" in Japan by "'restraining' the power of the government" and the "function of 'balance' against the 'excessive power' of the government" (p. 114). Of course, Fukuzawa's thought has that side as well, and the significance of this book in the history of research for extracting that is great. However, at the same time, there were cases where Fukuzawa's primary focus was first on private activities themselves. The transformation of politics in the narrow sense was an incidental result of those private activities, and there was an aspect where he did not encourage private activities for the purpose of aiming for political transformation.

The second point concerns the turning point in Fukuzawa's thought from ideas of natural rights, natural law, and social contract theory to a thought that emphasizes voluntary associations. Needless to say, voluntary associations are the "product of long 'habit'" (p. 85) and are formed historically in each society. Naturally, they are not endowed by heaven. Regarding this point, the author considers in Chapter 3 that in the first half of "Gakumon no susume (An Encouragement of Learning)" (especially before the eighth volume), Fukuzawa's thought shows ideas of natural rights and social contract theory under the influence of Wayland and others. He sees that Fukuzawa, after reading Mill, Guizot, Tocqueville, etc., broke away from social contract-like thought in the latter half of "Gakumon no susume (An Encouragement of Learning)" and after "An Outline of a Theory of Civilization." Naturally, the author's perspective is likely that the viewpoint of emphasizing voluntary associations as historical formations in their true sense was born beyond this departure.

The author's analysis on this point empirically tracks the process of Fukuzawa's intake of Western thought and is not flawed. However, another perspective of analysis is not impossible. For example, I believe that Fukuzawa, who read the works of Sorai and Jinsai in Nakatsu and received the baptism of empirical natural science at Ogata Juku, may have had a deep-rooted distrust from early on toward unprovable transcendental truths such as natural rights and natural rights theory. As is well known, the beginning of "Gakumon no susume (An Encouragement of Learning)" states, "It is said (....) that heaven does not create one person above another and does not create one person below another," but does the fact that he went out of his way to add "It is said" not show Fukuzawa's cool-headed view that natural rights theory is just one theory? In fact, if one looks at the subsequent argument in the first volume, the opening sentence is nothing more than an introduction to start the conversation. Similarly, the seemingly natural rights/social contract-like passages in the first half of "Gakumon no susume (An Encouragement of Learning)" and earlier can be taken as having been written for the sake of convenience, to set a starting point for discussion and continue with empirical and historical arguments. Of course, this example is close to a personal whim of mine and is not based on empirical evidence like the author's, but I have written it here, despite it being a superfluous addition, to show that other perspectives are possible.

As mentioned above, the author's perspective in this book is not the only one for analyzing Fukuzawa, but this book possesses something that reaches the reader even beyond its meticulous empirical evidence. This is because, throughout the entire work, it sincerely continues to ask, "What does Fukuzawa mean to a single human being who lives and dies in modern society as 'myself as a single citizen' (p. 307)?" (p. 268). In that sense, this book shows Fukuzawa's intellectual struggle toward the "originating" of civilization, and at the same time, it is a book that chronicles the author's own intellectual struggle as he continued to think about modern society and himself through Fukuzawa.

Those close to Keio University, such as the readers of this magazine, are always prone to the "problem of distortion caused by the 'deification' of Fukuzawa by 'epigones'" (p. 319). To avoid such pitfalls, I strongly recommend reading this book, which sincerely attempts to consider the meaning of Fukuzawa in modern society.

"Fukuzawa Yukichi's Intellectual Struggle: Beyond Life and Death" (by Hiroaki Matsuzawa)

Masamichi Komuro

Iwanami Shoten

438 pages, 10,450 yen (tax included)