著者

高田 里惠子

出版者

桃山学院大学総合研究所

雑誌

人間文化研究 = Journal of Humanities Research,St.Andrew's University (ISSN:21889031)

巻号頁・発行日

no.16, pp.67-92, 2022-02-23

---

This article roughly outlines the life of Nosei Abe (1883-1966) - theauthor of numerous books, including two autobiographies - by quotingand reconstructing the discourses among others about him. Abe isalmost forgotten today, but as a philosopher, professor, Minister of Educationin the aftermath of the war, and educational advisor to CrownPrince, he was once famous as well as much admired and criticized.From people's views on Nosei Abe emerges the characteristics of modernJapanese culture or political situation. First, I discuss how Abe is seen as having no academic achievementdespite publishing many books from Iwanami Shoten, a well-known academicpublisher. Abe was regarded as a dilettante who merely introducedwestern science and culture, or an essayist without philologicalresearch or genuine scholarship. From this perception of Abe, we cansee what is recognized as "academic" in humanities in modern Japan. The next notable thing is that Abe was accused of being a "conservativereactionary" by the younger generation of Japan during the ColdWar. However, Abe was one of the leading writers of Taishō-Culturalism,who advocated western individualism and liberalism in Japan in the early20th century. Abe described himself as a "liberal." In fact, after Japan'sdefeat in the Second World War, Abe was also the chairman of the leftwingpeace organization headed by Iwanami Shoten. Meanwhile, Abe expressed his discomfort with the labor movementand admitted his aversion to the Soviet Union and the communist party.Some people criticized these contradictions in Abe and some fondly remembered his harmless "slovenliness" or "magnanimity." One could saythat the mix of cultural liberalism and political conservatism in Abe is atypical example of modern Japanese intellectuals.