다이쇼 데모크라시기의 국가론과 진화론―오야마 이쿠오(大山郁夫)를 중심으로―

Abstract

This paper examines the foundations of the early thought of Ikuo Oyama, who devoted himself to the spread of Minbonism through his oratory during the Taisho period, from the perspective of nationalism and evolutionary theory. Oyama was a leading thinker of the Taisho democracy movement, and as a political scientist, he developed from Minbonism to socialism, and would go on to play a leading role in the socialist political movement. His ideological development illustrates the process of growth and development of the masses of workers and peasants in Japan from a populist and ordinary election movement to a non-progressive party movement. Based on the sociological view of the state by Gumplowicz and others, Oyama attempted to clarify the formation and development of the state and its essence by combining Marxism and Darwinism. His view of the state was a realistic and positivist one, in which the establishment of the state was based on the conquest and subjugation of groups, and the essence of the state was merely a power structure to maintain political domination and economic exploitation of the conquered group by the conquering group. Thus, he consistently held the social evolutionist view that the group is the subject and that the conflict and struggle of interests among groups is the driving force that generates social evolution and historical dynamics. By examining his thought, this paper was able to clarify more clearly the historical significance and essence of Japan’s civilian positivism.