Understanding Others as Others: A Reading of the Political Thought of Maruyama Masao and Takeuchi Yoshimi, or Advocating the “Gentle Subject”

Ryohei Tatebe

doi:10.19857/j.cnki.ICL.20225307

Volume 5 Issue 3

Sep. 2022

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Ryohei Tatebe. Understanding Others as Others: A Reading of the Political Thought of Maruyama Masao and Takeuchi Yoshimi, or Advocating the “Gentle Subject”[J]. International Comparative Literature, 2022, 5(3): 116-135. doi: 10.19857/j.cnki.ICL.20225307

Citation:

Ryohei Tatebe. Understanding Others as Others: A Reading of the Political Thought of Maruyama Masao and Takeuchi Yoshimi, or Advocating the “Gentle Subject”[J]. International Comparative Literature, 2022, 5(3): 116-135. doi: 10.19857/j.cnki.ICL.20225307

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Understanding Others as Others: A Reading of the Political Thought of Maruyama Masao and Takeuchi Yoshimi, or Advocating the “Gentle Subject”

doi: 10.19857/j.cnki.ICL.20225307

Ryohei Tatebe^,

The University of Tokyo

Funds:

This article is part of the special issue topic "Studies of Takeuchi Yoshimi" hosted by Qin Wang, the University of Tokyo.

Received Date: 2021-11-30
Accepted Date: 2022-01-05

Abstract

Abstract

This paper attempts a contemporary reading of Maruyama Masao, a prominent intellectual of postwar Japan, by bringing his arguments into dialogue with those of Takeuchi Yoshimi, another outstanding Japanese postwar intellectual. After experiencing many kinds of irrationality during World War II, Maruyama started to think explicitly about the nature of politics in the postwar situation. As he advocated for "understanding others as others" in his 1961 essay "Politics and Man in the Contemporary World," his concern was related to the question of the relationship between the self and others, or between the "inside" and the "outside" world. However, when faced with the same issue, Takeuchi Yoshimi proposed the opposite. While Maruyama was oriented toward others, Takeuchi looked at the inner nature of the self. For my argument, I would like to use Maruyama's notion as a starting point and at the same time suggest that Takeuchi's view of the self as something open or defenseless is significant in making "understanding others as others" possible. By engaging the arguments of these two intellectuals, I propose the idea of politics based on the "gentle subject," contrasting with Maruyama's notion of the "powerful subject." My conclusion is that considering the "gentle subject" is a necessary process in expanding Maruyama's thought to its full potential.
- Maruyama Masao,
- Takeuchi Yoshimi,
- Lu Xun,
- Fukuzawa Yukichi,
- subject

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References(25)

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