‘상대적 객관성’ 구조와 ‘동양’ 표상의 곤란성 — 쓰다 소키치, 오카와 슈메이, 미노다 무네키의 착종

Abstract

Tsuda Sokichi (津田左右吉), Okawa Shumei (大川周明), Minoda Muneki (蓑田胸喜). What they have in common is that they aimed to find the identity of their nation through the foreign ideas of the East and West. Tsuda Sokichi perceived the individual to be a limited being and maintained that the current desire or intention of such an individual had to be understood in relation to the state history. Okawa Shumei put importance on identifying how individual recognition appeared from the phenomenon of history in order to achieve objectivity. Minoda Muneki stated that things that existed innately in the past should be accepted as is, since individual recognition has no subjectivity. The logic of these three diverged at this point. Tsuda Sokichi focused on examining the transformation of concept of the East. He denied the created East and insisted on the creativity of Japanese culture. Okawa Shumei divided the East and West, and proposed a theory of creativity concerning Japanese culture, which had come to establish a new culture through interaction with Chinese and Indian cultures. Minoda Muneki adopted the theory that cultural exchange led to either the preservation or extinction of cultures, and asserted that, throughout Japan’s exchange with other eastern cultures, the innate cultural traits of Japan had not been lost from ancient times. These three adopted different theories and methodologies, but all had arrived at the notion of ‘individual subjectivity’ through independent realization.