A Comparison Between Early Modern China And Japan In Their Absorption Of Western Political Theories

This paper probes into the features of and differences between early modern China and Japan in their absorption of J. J. Rousseau’s Theory of the Social Contract, British Bentham’s Theory of Utilitarianism and German J. C. Bluntschi’s Theory of National Organism, and attempts to seek the basic reasons of the above differences.The paper attempts to approach the above mentioned differences from an integrated view that takes into consideration the three different types of culture, traditions and social constructions in China, Japan, and the western world. The basic view of the paper is that in drawing upon western political theories, the norms and principles of the internally transcendent Universalism value in China is somewhat in conflict with the general principles of the externally transcendent individualism in the west. Consequently, in the early modern China, Rousseau’s Theory of the Social Contract is preferred to be accepted from the perspective of Chinese tradition which is internally transcendent, while the British Utilitarian concepts of ethics and human nature are rejected. Besides, owing to the tremendous difficulties in China’s modernization drive, although the early modern China gave prominence to J. C. Bluntschi’s Theory of National Organism, it could not acknowledge Bluntschi’s view of nationalism in principle.When it comes to early modern Japan, Japanese culture and traditions, since relatively lacking in the transcendent Universalism values and principles, were ready to break away from its former traditional feudalism ethics and order in a rapid manner, which contributed to the uniqueness of Meiji-period Japan’s absorption of western political theories. Compared with China, the early modern Japan had a basic tendency in his absorption of western political theories:it denied the existence of transcendental, universal and transcendent values and norms, and the human being’s internal and transcendental potential to practice moral reflection and moral discovery.On this account, though Rousseau’Theory of the Social Contract inspired the Freedom and People’s rights movement in Meiji-period Japan, the theory was challenged by other thoughts such as Utilitarianism, Evolution Theory, and National Organism Theory.The above mentioned features in Japanese culture give rise to Japanese preference to British Utilitarianism. Yet due to the uniqueness of Japanese tradition, a unique Japanese Community Utilitarianism came into being by combining the Utilitarian concept in Meiji-Period Japan and German Theory of National Organism.The differences between China and Japan in their absorption of western political theories have exerted far-reaching influences on the Modernization drive in the two countries.