Public Philosophy and the Philosophy of Kyosei:Pluralism in Contemporary Japanese Political Thought
Author: Shinsuke Yasui
Abstract / Chinese PDF Download
The situation of Japanese political thought changed after the 1990s upon the rise of national conservatism, which put too much emphasis on the concept of “Japaneseness”. Those with liberal democratic thoughts in Japan were urged to rebuild their values to oppose the right-wing, and under these circumstances the public philosophy and the philosophy of Kyosei started to increasingly receive attention. Both philosophies can be regarded as important branches of political thought in contemporary Japan, and both hold on to the ideals of pluralism. This study analyzes the characteristics of pluralism in Japanese public philosophy and the philosophy of Kyosei from the viewpoint of political thought. It finds that Japanese pluralism strongly resists the negative aspects of modernity, such as the nation-state and imperialism, and criticizes the principle of elimination found in the dialectic method. However, these philosophies do not state methods of realizing pluralism in detail—a defect of Japanese pluralism. Overall, this essay provides an important viewpoint for appreciating the characteristics of contemporary Japanese liberal democracy
Keywords：liberal democracy、Symbiosis (Kyosei)、The Japanese Left