Study On Fukuzawa Yukichi’s Liberal Thoughts

Fukuzawa Yukichi is one of the most important enlightenment thinkers in the modern intellectual history of Japan,whose liberal thoughts had a profound influence on Japan’s modern strategic policy and even on the process of Japan’s modernization.He founded Keio University and Jiji shimpo to spread western culture and to lead the whole nation towards a higher civilization.The main strategic line formulated and implemented by Japan in this turbulent era exactly reflects that Fukuzawa’s thoughts changed with the changes of domestic and foreign situations and the different pursuits of Japan.Inchoate Fukuzawa took "natural rights" and "freedom and equality" as his life credo and the early realization of national independence as his main task.In the later period,it changed into power politics that advocated "enriching the country and strengthening the army",and regarded the promotion of national power and external expansion as the main tasks,which influenced the strategic route of Japan’s external expansion in modern times.This thesis is divided into three sections:introduction,body and conclusion.And the body includes chapter two,three,four and five.Chapter two mainly explores the various factors of the formation of Fukuzawa Yukichi’s liberal thoughts,including the background of the era,The changes of modern Japan’s views of China,the early experience of Fukuzawa,and the influence of western liberal thought and so on.Chapter three takes Fukuzawa Yukichi’s early liberal thoughts as the theme,and analyzes the application and influence of his early thoughtss in Japan’s strategic policies from his early speeches,remarks and works.Chapter four takes the liberal thoughts in the later period of Fukuzawa Yukichi as the theme,starting with his later speeches,remarks and works,emphasizing the difference between his later thoughts and his earlier thoughts,and analyzing the application of his later thoughts in Japanese strategic policies and their influence.Finally,chapter five analyzes the dynamics of the change in the mind of Fukuzawa Yukichi respectively from macroscopic and microscopic aspects.Then it explores the influence of these factors on Japan’s modern aggression and expansion.