진보 개념의 수용과 근대 일본

The Acceptance of Concept of Progress and Modern Japan -Centering on the Change of the Political and Historical Consciousness-

This thesis is to study the process by which[how] the Western concept of progress was accepted in the early period of Modern Japan. Thus are shown the aspects of how the concept of progress changed time-consciousness (historical consciousness) in Japan, spread across the whole range of Japanese society, and made the new political composition in Japanese politics. The term of Shinpo ( 進步 ) had already been used with the meaning of advancement from the time before Modern Japan. Since the modern period, the modern concept of progress has been established through accepting the Western concept of progress by Hukuzawa Yukichi and Taguchi Ukichi. The concept of progress established in the early period of Modern Japan was somewhat combined with the concept of civilization. For the connotation that the progress implies what advances toward civilization was so apparent. The spread of the concept of progress which has such connotation was partly due to several enlightenment books promoting civilization and the concept of evolution in the process of accepting evolution theory. The concept of progress functioned as an axis[a pivot] for creating the new political composition in the middle of reorganization into the modern system of Japanese politics. That is, a new political composition consisting of two sides; progress and conservatism was created, by which one side promoting reformation toward civilization is called progress , whereas the other one not activating such enterprise is called conservative What has clearly been revealed so far is that the concept of progress in the early period of Modern Japan was inextricably linked with civilization and showed the strong orientation toward civilization. The direct advancement toward civilization is the right direction from the viewpoint of history, whereas the reformation toward that direction can be called progress in politics. This was shared by both government and political parties. This is just the evidence how enthusiastically Japanese society had desire to be civilized in the formation period of modern nation.