Research On Nambara Shigeru

Nambara Shigeru (1889—1974),has made unparalleled achievements as a scholar on politics, an ideologist, an educationist in Japanese history, and has been honored with titles as diverse as "Great Messenger" "the Backbone of the Japanese Society" "A Peace Emissary" etc. Nambara Shigeru's importance lied not only in his timely presence in history, but in his wise devising and guidance of the future development of Tokyo University as well as that of Japan.He brought about new concepts in Japanese Constitution and Japan's Basic Law on Education. He aroused the enthusiasm of Japanese people to create a new democratic Japan. Thus he earned a fame of "Father of Japan" after the Second World War.However, there are few studies on Nambara Shigeru and his works, many of which scattering in the prefaces and postscripts of Nambara Shigeru's works and various reminiscences and interviews about Nambara Shigeru, etc. And most of the studies only explicated and ascertained his role on Japanese history of thoughts in certain aspects. Little was done on a systematical discussion about Nambara Shigeru's ideological system.Therefore, an all-dimensional & multi-perspective study is needed to illustrate Nambara Shigeru's indispensible role and his great significance on Japanese history of thoughts.Through the thorough investigation on Nambara Shigeru's academic idea and his deep influences on the ideological changes in the transitional period of Japan, we will have a clear picture of his academic character, and thus understand the reason why he was known to all in Japanese history. Furthermore, the significance of history of thoughts and the academic history is highlighted. Under such macroscopical background of East Asia ideological history, this paper probes into the dynamic cause of that time Japanese academia after World WarⅡand depicts the conception and composition East Asia modern ideological history, thus having a good understanding of the cultural development trails and its influence on the process of development of East Asian culture and thoughts.This paper is divided into six chapters.Reviews the fruits, problems and weakness of studies on Nambara Shigeru's research, and thus has made an explicit explanation and description on the significance, objectives, values, keys points, difficulties, methods and approaches of Nambara Shigeru's ideological research. The feasibility of research on Nambara Shigeru and his research has therefore been improved.Chapter one introduces the life story of Nambara Shigeru, a conscientious intellectual. In this chapter, the line of Nambara Shigeru's thoughts is tracked along the development of turbulent modern Japanese historyChapter two explores Nambara Shigeru's academic background, his theoretical origin and his academic system, and has concluded that Nambara Shigeru's ideas were greatly influenced by Chinese Confucianism as well as ideas and beliefs of Nitobe Inazo and Uchimura Kanzou. Based on that, Nambara Shigeru negated Onozuka Kiheiji's practical study method, and created his own unique method of study on political philosophy. Based on Kant's'idealist philosophy, he criticized Johann Gottlieb Fichte's theory and Neo-Kantianism, and established his basic framework for his study on political philosophy. Parallel-value theory was established, telling us that truth, goodness, beauty and justice stand side by side in this world. Based on Kant's model of perpetual peace, he put forward "Total Peace Theory" Nambara Shigeru's academic research and thoughts were a combination of the east and western culture, and were developed by his integration of theory with practice.Chapter three discusses the relationship between Emperor of Japan and Tokyo University; with the popularity of the theory of "Japan emperor is a state organ", epoch-making changes drew its curtain. At that time, Tokyo University played an important role in unveiling the prevailing theory of Japanese Constitution. Tokyo University was an imperial university. As the empire belongs to Emperor of Japan, Tokyo Imperial University inevitably belonged to Emperor of Japan. In 1945, the Japanese empire fell down, signifying the downfall of Tokyo Imperial University. However, the reconstruction of Tokyo University symbolizes the renaissance of Japan.Chapter four reveals Nambara Shigeru's constructive scheme for the country. Nan advocated a new neutral and peaceful democratic nation. His basic concepts are as followed: firstly, he stood for building a new Japan and creating new Japanese culture. According to him, the development of Japanese nationality brought about by Human Revolution embarked the country on the road of new Japanese culture and a new Japan. With a sincere remorse for wrongdoing, Japan is possible to seek for renaissance. Secondly, Nambara Shigeru also talked about the educational reforms after the Second World War. He attached great importance to educational reforms, and believed that the very foundation on which we build a new Japan was such basic concepts as respecting individuals, cultivating people to pursue truth and peace, respecting tradition and providing creative culture education. Thirdly, he discussed Emperor of Japan and the emperor system. He believed that Emperor of Japan was cleared of all legal and political responsibility for the WWII. And Emperor of Japan only had moral or mental responsibilities. This idea was apparently different from his claim of "a new democratic nation", and it also contradicted his life-long belief of Christianity. Nambara Shigeru's narrow nationalism was a great pity in his life in view of his appeal for world peace and establishment of a new democratic Japan. Fourthly, with the armistice design worked out together with six other professors of Tokyo University, Nambara Shigeru developed his own peace plan, and argued strongly with members of the House of Lords when discussing the legislation of the new constitution as well as the new law of education. Nambara Shigeru also launched a debate on Japanese former Prime Minister, Yoshida Shigeru who advocated for prostituting learning, twisting the truth and truckling to the times. Nambara Shigeru's great idea of establishing a democratic, free Japan, his good grasp of the general trend of the world as well as his strong sense of responsibility of saving the nation were therefore highlighted.Chapter five generalized Nambara Shigeru's system of political philosophy, his academic thoughts, characteristics and significance of his political philosophy. Taking Kantian idealism as his philosophical background, Nambara Shigeru negated the positivistic research method employed by his teacher, criticized Johann Gottlieb Fichte's theory and Neo-Kantianism, and established his framework of his research on political philosophy which involved the universal theory and value-parallelism containing truth, virtue, beauty and justice. Based on Kantian model of perpetual peace, Nambara Shigeru had developed his theory of "Making All-round Peace", a mixture of eastern and western culture, and an integration of theory with practice, possessing the theoretical character of keeping pace with the timesOther discussion starts from perspectives and methods in the history of scientific ideas and was devoted to the blending and conflicting of ideas of Nambara Shigeru and Maruyama Masao, a famous Japanese ideologist. The teacher-student relationship between them demonstrated changes of ideas at the period of Japanese Social Transformation, and revealed the practical significance of the development of the history of scientific ideas.