후쿠자와 유키치의 초기 사상과 자유민권운동

Early thought of Fukuzawa Yukichi and Free Civil Right Movement(Jiyu Minken Undo): Based on 『Gakusya Anshin Ron(Independence of the Scholar’s Mind)』

The evaluation of Free Civil Right Movement(Jiyu Minken Undo) with Fukuzawa Yukichi, is closely related to his early thought. In his writing Gakusya Anshin Ron, he agreed to the purpose of the promotion of civil rights, but he took a critical attitude toward the radical and power-seeking tendencies of civil rights groups. Also, he saw activities of people in everyday life as part of politics and pursued a gradual sense of civil rights in comparison to the civil rights groups. Such Fukuzawa s attitude coexist with its inherent reform-mindedness and gradual order-keeping tendencies, and it was an idea contained in his earlier ideas. In his early age, he thought that improving civil rights was essential to maintaining Japan s independence from the Western powers. Such Fukuzawa s civil rights theory based on this internal reform awareness, was of essentially a different nature from the civil rights faction, which was the axis of resistance to the Meiji government. On the other hand, he preferred the British political system for harmony , and he took Republican political system critically, through the example of French reign of terror. Also, he, a former government (Bakuhu) official before Meiji Restoration, strongly criticized the move to pursue changes in existing society against Bakuhu, and also advocated national unity centered on Bakuhu. These facts can be argued to have been behind Fukuzawa s resistance to revolutionizing society greatly, maintaining a critical attitude toward direct democracy in which the entire people participate in state affairs.