On The Characteristics Of Modern Japanese Philosophy

The Japanese modern philosophy began its course from introducing the contemporary Western philosophy. From the Meiji Restoration (1868) to the end of World War II, in near 80 years of its development process the Japanese modern philosophy experienced the Enlightenment, the emergence of modern philosophy which means the establishment of the Meiji materialism and Meiji idealism, and the original bourgeois idealism of Japan, that is, the formation and development of the "Nishida philosophy", as well as the spread and development of Marxist philosophy in Japan before the War.On the basis of the development history of Japanese modern philosophy, this paper systematically explores its characteristics.First, the Enlightenment philosophy thinkers turned from "virtual school" to "real learning", marking the beginning of both Japanese modern philosophy and the introduction of Western philosophy into Japan. The conversion from "virtual school" to "real learning" was not only the change of knowledge, but also the conversion of values. What's more, this conversion laid a foundation for the formation of Japanese modern philosophy.Secondly, the "backwardness" of Japanese history determined such an important and distinctive feature that the development of all Japanese philosophy including modern philosophy relied on transplant. Japanese modern philosophy began its historical voyage by transplant, then experienced integration, and at last came to the way of creation. "Nishida philosophy" was the witness and fruits of this process of Japanese modern philosophy.Thirdly, the un-thoroughness of Japan's Meiji Restoration together with the specific experiences and identities of Japanese modern philosophers endowed Japanese modern philosophy with the characteristic of duality, such as the co-existence of Eastern and Western philosophy, the blending of tradition and modern, the alternation of innovation and conservativeness and so on.Fourthly, throughout the whole history of Japanese philosophy, Buddhist, Shinto and other religious philosophies put the beliefs of Buddha and the worship to deity on a core position before modern times. Tsuda, Mamichi, Fukuzawa Yukichi, Kato Hiroyuki as well as other Enlightenment philosophers in the early period of Meiji advocated that human rights were endowed by heaven, and stressed to respect men. With the Shinto being a state religion, later philosophers, such as Inoue Tetsujiro, Nishida, etc, advocated respecting Emperor. Therefore, the Japanese modern philosophy displayed a transformation process from respecting men to respecting Emperor. This process or characteristic had a close relationship with the development of Japanese modern society and politics.The main task of this paper is to systematically elaborate and summarize the characteristics of Japanese modern philosophy. The innovation of this paper is that it believes that Japanese modern philosophy has a transformation process from respecting men to respecting Emperor.