Civilizations and value 12 ( First period of Edo era )

In Toynbee's view, a small number of creative rulers gain legitimacy , but lose it over time . The decline of civilization is portrayed as such a process , but the idea of the four periods mentioned above also suggests a way to analyze it by dividing it into smaller parts . In that case, the creative rulers are the leadership of the new social forces, and the legitimate rulers who have lost their creativity are the leadership of the old social forces. It may be possible to read it that way. In other words, it can be said that Spengler and Toynbee overlap in terms of internal value formation as well.

 

It is also necessary to pay attention to the fact that the total period of these four periods does not necessarily correspond to the period of existence of the actual social order as a social force . This is because a part of the first half of the social forces and a part of the latter half were periods in which they were not actually ruling orders or ruling forces, but could be regarded as periods in which they were potential forces .

 

 

Forces and mentality in the Edo period

 

above idea of social order or social forces as a hypothetical model, I would like to take a look at Japan's Edo period, which became a typical example of a closed model due to its national isolation policy. In terms of history, the Edo period was a social order established from the establishment of the Edo Shogunate to the restoration of imperial rule , and its period of existence was from 1603 to 1867 . However, in this hypothetical model, the first of the four periods already began before 1603 , and the fourth period ended after 1867.

 

Let me explain the major flow. The first period began before the establishment of the Edo Shogunate. This is probably because the values of the Sengoku samurai, the Ikko sect, the Nichiren sect, and Christianity had a strong influence, and the posthumous value was high . At the same time, we saw the beginning of the wide spread of Neo-Confucianism by Seika Fujiwara *1. This continued with Razan Hayashi *2 's teaching of Neo-confucianism. Examples of the products of friction between old social forces and new social forces include Touju Nakae*3, Banzan Kumazawa*4, and Soko Yamaga*5. Keichu*6 is cited as the origin of Kokugaku.

 

*1 The academic style of Seika Fujiwara  was not simply Neo-Confucianism, but rather an inclusive academic style that did not exclude Rikuo's studies, but also incorporated Laozhuang and Buddhism, and was rather said to have been on the flow of Ming xinxing. .

 

*2 Razan Hayashi  made Neo-Confucianism the official science of the shogunate, and his descendants called themselves the Hayashi family and became Confucian officials of the shogunate for generations.

 

*3 Touju Nakae is a Yomei scholar  who valued filial piety and cultivated virtue , Farmers called him the Omi Saint.

 

 * 4 Banzan Kumazawa  adopted the strengths of both Shushi and Yomei studies, and argued that politics should be viewed from a practical samurai standpoint, and that policies should be formulated according to the actual situation by understanding the three aspects of time, place, and rank.

 

*5 Soko Yamaga was one of the founders of the classical school of thought, which opposed Neo-Confucianism and Yomei school and advocated a return to the principles of Confucius, and he also influenced later generations as a systematist of Bushido.

 

*6 Keichū was a monk of the Shingon sect and laid the foundations for Japanese studies. He had many accomplishments in classical commentary and Japanese linguistics.

 

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Civilizations and value 11 ( structure about the DNA of social order )

Let's take a brief look at each period. Let's first formulate a general hypothesis about what characteristics each has.

 

 What is the first period, childhood? 

The first period, childhood, overlaps with the prime years of the preceding social forces . In contrast to the mature wisdom of the preceding social forces , this is the time when the new , albeit infantile, ideals of the newly born social forces are giving birth . Therefore, in childhood, the mature culture of the preceding social forces and the young, yet youthful culture of the next social forces coexist. The quality of social psychology , or value, is formed through this interaction .

 

What is the second period, adolescence ?

The second period, adolescence, overlaps with the old age of the preceding social forces . The youthful ideals of the new social forces grow little by little as they meet reality . In contrast , the mature wisdom of the preceding social forces becomes rigid with age, declines , and at the same time becomes religious and philosophical. The new social forces are lyrical, and since they are not actually in charge of society yet, this is a time of great energy , where they become fanciful and dream of a new era .

 

What is the third period, the prime age?

The third period, the prime of life, overlaps with the childhood of the next generation of social forces . This time, the positions have changed, and the social forces that have gained power and leadership become the ones who criticize and suppress them. The next generation of social forces will be born under this protection , and will begin to grow little by little while receiving the protection of a mature economy amidst the stability of established social forces .

 

What is the fourth period, old age?

In the fourth period, old age, people become the ones who are overcome by the social forces of the next generation in adolescence. Philosophy and religion become accepted by established social forces . This phenomenon occurs because the social forces that have been dominant up until now tend to seek spiritual elements due to material saturation, and because of friction with the next-generation social forces that occur one after another . This is probably because they are trying to assert the legitimacy of their rule . On the other hand, the next generation of social forces in adolescence have continued to grow since their birth and are in the process of coming together as a group . At the same time, this is a time when the next generation of social forces will gain the legitimacy of their rule while being trained by the ideas * that established social forces have created amidst contradictions, as well as by external forces, such as ideas from abroad. .

 

 * Thoughts created amidst contradictions

Although the idea is to innovate and reform, a situation where the outer shell of the argument has a retro-like appearance is referred to here as ``thoughts created in contradiction.'' One example of this is the reform ideology that took the form of sonno-joi at the end of the Edo period.

 

What can be considered through these four periods is that multiple social forces exist in one period, each with its own life cycle. The infancy of one social force exists in parallel with the prime of life of another social force . Also, old age exists in parallel with adolescence, childhood in middle age, and adolescence in old age . Furthermore , it is believed that the psyches of the two social forces , old and new, that are occurring at the same time , influence each other and form trends and culture . These combinations may change slightly depending on the situation and time differences . This is because the length of each of the four periods can change depending on the situation. It feels somewhat similar to the double helix structure of DNA. It is, so to speak, the DNA of social order.

 

However , first of all , ① childhood (new social forces) - middle age (old social forces), ② adolescence (new social forces) - old age (old social forces), ③ middle age (old social forces) - childhood (new social forces) , ④ Old age (old social forces) - Youth (new social forces)

　　This pattern can be considered as the basic type. Based on these hypotheses and keeping them in mind , we can use them as a starting point for looking at complex and diverse phenomena . In the sense of the error from the starting point, it would be possible to use it in a way similar to Weber's ideal type.

 

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Civilizations and value 10 ( The rise and fall of social order in four eras )

However, in many cases, values are formed not only in an introverted sense, but also in an extroverted sense, and I think much of this can be explained by the mechanism of challenge and response. These two viewpoints are necessary as a minimum as a large frame. Rather than thinking about how these will be combined as a theory, the purpose of the first basic stage is to first see what can be seen by taking each perspective and to concretely accept what is seen. That is to say.

　

Changes in the life phenomena of civilizations in closed civilizations

 

From here, we begin to observe the introverted life phenomena of civilization in the style of Spengler . In doing so , it is first necessary to look for historical examples as appropriate materials . One such example is the ` ` change in mentality during the Edo period under national isolation . ''

 

The history of Japan from the beginning of national isolation (1636) to the arrival of the black ships (1864) can be said to be very close to the ideal of a closed civilization . For this reason , I would like to use this model to observe the process of change in biological phenomena, as it is a suitable material for examining the introvert model .

 

 However, as a first step , it is necessary to present a simplified model of changes in social order and mentality , and to explain the concept behind it .

 

Let me now write about Spengler's four periods of rise and fall of social organisms. Spengler divided the rise and fall of social order into four eras*1 : childhood, youth , middle age , and old age . This classification method was criticized by Toynbee and others for viewing civilization as an organism .*2 However, on the other hand, Toynbee held the idea that child civilizations are germinated from parent civilizations *3. If so, is it possible that these four periods could arise depending on the degree of overlap between the parent civilization and the child civilization? These four periods can also exist as basic models, and the theme from here is to take a closer look at their characteristics.

 

 

*1 The rise and fall of social order in four eras

Regarding the idea of four eras of rise and fall of social order, some researchers of Spengler have criticized that Spengler is only understood formally. ``Only what is extremely external can be understood.'' This opinion is probably influenced by Toynbee and others' claims that society is not an organism. There are various types of civilizations, and some are influenced by multiple outside civilizations, but even among these, it can be said that the simplest form of civilization has followed a relatively organic form. 

 

*2 Toynbee looked critically at this method of classification.

Society is not a living organism in any sense. He says that society is nothing more than a common basis for the actions of individual human beings who are living organisms. He held that it cannot be demonstrated that the social order passes through successive periods of life in the same way as humans do. However, Toynbee also says that civilization has a parent-child relationship in a different sense than society . If there is a parent-child relationship, it is possible that the timing can be divided depending on the relationship. It would be even more meaningful to look at each period in detail.

 

*3 Toynbee's idea of the embryo of civilization

 A distinctive feature of Toynbee's theory of civilization was that each civilization did not complete its life phenomenon independently, but that it conceived child civilizations along the way. They are the parent civilization and the child civilization. He also believed that there was an encounter between different civilizations before the birth of civilization. If there is an embryo, this will likely be the cause of overlapping generations between civilizations. Civilization and social order are not necessarily the same thing. Civilization can be said to be a series of several social orders linked together over time. But there may be cases where they match. This may be the case with Japan during the period of national isolation. In such cases, it is expected that there will be roughly four eras in the rise and fall of the social order. I believe that such a phenomenon can occur in the relationship between the old social order (played by preceding social forces) and the new social order (played by new social forces).

 

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Civilizations and value 9 ( introvert model and extrovert model )

There are reasons to think that Toynbee and Spengler need to be reevaluated. It is important that these two were born out of the great destruction of World War I and World War II . The world is about to enter similar waters of destruction once again, but it seems that little is understood about what these two men were feeling during this tense situation. At the time, there may have been a strong tendency to be seen as a downfallist . However, in modern times, it may be better to reinterpret these two as futurists . How are the values that define and determine the future formed? Two styles were offered. Toynbee 's theory of extroversion and Spengler's theory of introversion each followed different developments* . Another aspect that cannot be ignored is that these two intuitions were achieved through honed sensibilities * during the extreme tensions of wartime .

 

 *Different development

For Toynbee , it would be fair to say that external influences on civilization were a more important factor in the formation of values . There is a challenge ( I divide it into external forces and environmental forces ) as a force that activates civilization , and this influences the ability to self-determine and fight back . A creative leader emerges and the masses begin to imitate him, but over time the creative leader gradually deteriorates and becomes dominant, and in this process, empires and fighting groups emerge. In contrast, Spengler argued that the culture that naturally arose from rural areas would become civilization as cities developed, and that humans would lose their culture, become rootless, become empires, and eventually collapse.

In his later years, Toynbee began to mention the importance of world religions. On the other hand, in his later years, Spengler began to think about what the German state and society should be like . As a result, he began to think about Prussian socialism . In a sense, this can be said to be a product of introverted thinking . It's socialism that takes advantage of Germany 's efficient bureaucracy, and it may be reminiscent of current China in the 2020s . Spengler believed that socialism and scientific bureaucracy, rather than markets or capitalism, would develop nations.

 

*Sensitivity honed under stress

In wartime, it was difficult to know whether to win or lose, and whose values would prevail, making it difficult to know the way out. For this reason, many historical and cultural works seem to have been supported by deep thought. Around the time of World War II, Braudel was writing ``Mediterranean'' and Sartre was writing ``Being and Nothingness.'' It is also interesting that all of them were French people who were occupied by Germany. This can also be said of Japanese writers before and after the GHQ rule.

 

 

2 Life and destiny that integrate challenge and response

 

I have looked at Toynbee, an extrovert, and Spengler, an introvert, with reference to Jung's classification based on psychological posture . It may be necessary to combine these ideas , but even if you try to combine these two abstractly , it doesn't seem to make much sense , and it probably won't be very convincing . However, even if we lean toward one or the other, it is insufficient*, so we would like to use both viewpoints as a minimum . Try using these as tools to actually explain the situation.

 

In addition, the examples of culture, art, science, mathematics, and history that Spengler cited in his discussion of the decline of the West seem to be extremely difficult for non-Westerners to evaluate in order to explain the theory of internal formation of values.  For this reason, I would like to consider Japan's own culture, rather than Spengler's example, as the material for internal formation theory. With this in mind to some extent, I would like to think about Japan's future as a theme .

 

 ※insufficient

If we concentrate too much on introverted values, we will become too fixated on the phenomena of life and see value only in terms of fate. However, it seems necessary as a methodology to consider a model that is not influenced by external factors. By consciously choosing a closed model, you can think purely about the introvert model. This can be said to be the significance of observing life phenomena in a closed civilization.

 

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