Viewpoint of Masao Maruyama about Chinese Modernity

Title

Viewpoint of Masao Maruyama about Chinese Modernity

Author

OU Jianying

Page

189-219

DOI

10.6163/TJEAS.201906_16(1).0006

Abstract

　　Masao Maruyama took an original view on modernity. He discussed it with two concepts, i.e. modern times and contemporary times, and asserted that the former referred to the period of people’s revolution and the Industrial Revolution while the latter denoted the period of fascism. Modernity included the characteristics of these two different times.He did not completely separate the former from the latter; instead, he held that the latter was a product of the former but in a decayed form. In the meantime, he recognized that some ideas formed in modern times such as freedom and democracy could be turned into power against fascism. His agenda, therefore, was to overcome contemporary decadence by promoting modern ideas.
　　Maruyama’s study on intellectual history in the early stage premised that Confucianism and modern ideas were irreconcilable. This led to his negative evaluation of Chinese modernity. He, however, modified this view later on. The first reason for his change is that Maruyama resonated with Sun Yat-sen’s emphasis on the reform of people’s consciousness. Second, Yoshimi Takeuchi’s discourse pointed out how criticism and succession were intertwined in the Chinese tradition. This made Maruyama realize the importance of tradition to modernity. Through his comparison and introspection, Maruyama came to a strong conviction that Japanese people lacked an independent identity and he attributed it to their absence of inner faith. As a result, the universal values of foreign ideas were hard to be blended into the Japanese tradition. He then shifted his focus to the structural problem of the Japanese culture from ancient to modern times and became interested in establishing universal values in the Japanese mind. Consequently, he freed himself from the framework of tradition versus modern civilization and Asia versus the West and embraced new viewpoints to evaluate China.

Keyword

Masao Maruyama, Modern Times, Contemporary Times, Common People’s Consciousness, Tradition, Zhu Xi Learning, Universal Values

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