森谷克己의 植民主義 社會經濟史學 批判

Abstract

Moritani Katsumi(森谷克己,1904-1964) is one of the scholars in the socio-economic historical-science(materialism economic historical-science) who left substantial academic achievement while serving in the Gyeongseong Imperial University between 1927 and 1945. Moritani was quite proud of having deeply influenced by Fukuda Tokuzo(福田德三,1874-1930), who had been the great authority in the socio-economic historical-science of Japan. Moritani was a hard-working scholar who authored many books, including translations, with sincere intention to succeed and advance the academic tradition. There are two characteristics in the researches of Moritani. First, he worked very hard to secure the firm theoretical bases. It is quite clear that he obtained such theoretical bases from the publications he had translated. Second, he had deep interest in the present. Therefore, he even interpreted the past facts to match with explanation on the present. On the other hand, it is possible to criticize Moritani in following three aspects. First, Moritani was quite short of historical knowledge and he was not professional in the interpretation of historical knowledge. Second, he attempted to interpret the Asian society through the application of historical science of Karl Marx and Wittfogel; however, he always and thoroughly regarded Japan as an exception. Third, his academic attitude was not objective and he did not make fair assessments. He made thorough subjective interpretation based on the ‘Greater East-Asia Co-prosperity Zone’ theory of Japanese Empire. He accepted the theories of Marx and Wittfogel to firmly secure the theoretical bases. Since he had more interest in the present than the past and he interpreted the past facts based on such interest in the present so that the past facts would fit with the explanation on the present. Consequently, his research works contributed in the implementation of ‘Greater Area Policy Theory’ of the state policy of Japanese Empire during the Pacific War. Therefore, he ended up a representative socio-economic historical-scientist supporting colonialism.