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Ogyū Sorai on the Content and Intent of Learning

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Confucian Perspectives on Learning and Self-Transformation

Part of the book series: Contemporary Philosophies and Theories in Education ((COPT,volume 14))

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Abstract

 In Japan Confucianism was from its import onwards particularly valued for its educational merits. The first educational institution was founded in the seventh century and had a mainly Confucian curriculum. Confucianism’s status as a teaching for the elites was not unchallenged. In the middle ages it was Buddhism that became the intellectual paradigm for Japanese society and culture. The Buddhist predominance ended, however, when a central government headed by the Shōgun was established in Edo in the year 1600. The political discourse and the educational system were confucianized (again) and especially Neo-Confucian teachings became the standard texts of instruction in Japan. The emancipation of Confucianism from Buddhism is apparent in the emergence of the Neo-Classical School of Confucianism, a current that criticized Neo-Confucianism for its integration of Buddhist elements. Ogyū Sorai (1666-1728), the most influential protagonist of the Neo-Classical School, defends the claim that Confucianism in its original form provided, above all, a specific content and method of learning. Sorai claims that the content of learning must be primarily historical, because all the wisdom that human societies need was provided by the ancient sage kings, unique rulers of Chinese antiquity whose intellectual capacities were much superior to those of all later human beings. Because the original practices of the ancient kings were lost, these practical arts have to be recovered through philology. A deep understanding of ancient language is, therefore, key to all forms of learning. Finally, the aim of learning is not to become a sage oneself – this is impossible for a human being – or to achieve a comprehensive understanding of the world. It is the intent of learning that everybody develops his individuals capacities and can thereby become a valuable member of human society.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Studies in the Intellectual History of Tokugawa Japan, trans. by Mikiso Hane, (University of Tokyo Press, 1989).

  2. 2.

    Morimichi Kato, “Humanistic tradition in East Asia”, Zeitschrift für Pädagogik, 60, 96–108.

  3. 3.

    Peter Kornicki and others suppose a much later date for the events reported in this passage; see Peter Kornicki, The Book in Japan: A Cultural History from the Beginnings to the Nineteenth Century (Leiden; Boston: Brill. 1998), 278–9; cf. Hall, John Whitney and Delmer M. Brown, The Cambridge History of Japan. Vol. 1: Ancient Japan (Cambridge etc.: Cambridge University Press, 1993), 170.

  4. 4.

    Basil Hall Chamberlain, The Kojiki: Records of Ancient Matters (Rutland, VT: Tuttle, 1981), 313.

  5. 5.

    Kiri Paramore discusses this treatment of Confucianism as cultural capital in the first chapter of Japanese Confucianism – A Cultural History (Cambridge etc.: Cambridge University Press, 2016), 16–40.

  6. 6.

    The translation is adopted from Paramore, Japanese Confucianism, 16; see also W.G. Aston, Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697, vol. 1, 262–3.

  7. 7.

    Ibid., vol. 2, 65–7.

  8. 8.

    Ibid., 66.

  9. 9.

    William LaFleur, The Karma of Words: Buddhism and the Literary Arts in Medieval Japan (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983), 9.

  10. 10.

    John W. Hall, “The Confucian Teacher in Tokugawa Japan”, in Confucianism in Action, edited by David S Nivison and Arthur F Wright (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1959), 43–44 and 51.

  11. 11.

    On the difficulties of Confucianism to spread among the samurai, see Hiroshi Watanabe, A History of Japanese Political Thought, 1600–1901 (Tōkyō: I-House Press), 77–101.

  12. 12.

    For more on this genre, see John Allen Tucker, “Chen Beixi, Lu Xiangshan, and Early Tokugawa (1600–1867) Philosophical Lexicography“, Philosophy East and West 43, no. 4 (1993): 683–713. I will argue later in this essay, however, that Sorai’s explications cannot be understood as lexicography in a limited, linguistic sense.

  13. 13.

    Ogyū Sorai, edited by Yoshikawa Kōjirō (henceforth Ogyū Sorai), Nihon shisō taikei 36 (Tōkyō: Iwanami Shoten, 1973), 164 and 249.

  14. 14.

    Ibid.

  15. 15.

    Ibid., 179 and 253; John Allen Tucker, Ogyū Sorai’s Philosophical Masterworks: the Bendō and Benmei (Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2006), 330.

  16. 16.

    See Ogyū Sorai, 48 and 212; Tucker, Ogyū Sorai’s Philosophical Masterworks: the Bendō and Benmei, 180.

  17. 17.

    Ogyū Sorai, 167–168 and 250.

  18. 18.

    Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics 1140a1–23; in: The complete works of Aristotle: the revised Oxford translation, ed. by Jonathan Barnes (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1984). We should notice that the term “techné“ underwent significant changes in Ancient Greek philosophy; see Richard Parry, “Episteme and Techne”, in The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ed. Edward N. Zalta, 2014, http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2014/entries/episteme-techne

  19. 19.

    See Aristotle’s presentation in Metaphysics I. 981a; in: The complete works of Aristotle, 1984.

  20. 20.

    See Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics 1139a6-14, in: The complete works of Aristotle, 1984.

  21. 21.

    See Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics 1139b14-18, in: The complete works of Aristotle, 1984.

  22. 22.

    See Aristotle’s identification in his Metaphysics I.2 982b12-15; in: The complete works of Aristotle, 1984); see also Otfried Höffe, Rolf Geiger, and Philipp Brüllmann, Aristoteles-Lexikon (Stuttgart: Alfred Kröner, 2005), 569.

  23. 23.

    See Ogyū Sorai, 58 and 215, 63 and 216 (Benmei). I deal with the consequences for Sorai’s conception of philosophy in my article “Ogyū Sorai and the End of Philosophy”. In: What is Philosophy? Themes and Issues in China, Japan, India, and the Islamic World, edited by Elena L Lange and Raji C Steineck (Leiden etc.: Brill, 2018.)

  24. 24.

    See Tahara Tsuguo 田原嗣郎 et al. (eds.). Yamaga Sokō 山鹿素行 (henceforth Yamaga Sokō), Nihon Shisō Taikei 日本思想体系 32 (Tōkyō: Iwanami Shoten, 1970), 11; see also Gerhard Leinss’ translation Yamaga Sokōs “Kompendium der Weisenlehre” (Seikyō Yōroku) : Ein Wörterbuch des Neoklassischen Konfuzianismus im Japan des 17. Jahrhunderts (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1989), 18; and Ogyū Sorai, 150 and 244 (Benmei).

  25. 25.

    See Ogyū Sorai, 63 and 216; see also 76 and 221; 195 and 258 (all from Benmei).

  26. 26.

    In this regard Sorai differs from Sokō; see Yamaga Sokō, 11.

  27. 27.

    Ogyū Sorai, 76 and 221 (Benmei).

  28. 28.

    Ogyū Sorai, 67 and 218 (Benmei).

  29. 29.

    Hiraishi Naoaki 平石直明, “Soraigaku no Saikōsei 徂徠学の再構成,” Shisō 思想 766 (1988).

  30. 30.

    Ogyū Sorai, 40 and 209 (Benmei).

  31. 31.

    Ogyū Sorai, 68 and 218 (Benmei).

  32. 32.

    See Ogyū Sorai, 54 and 213 (Benmei); see also James McMullen, „Ogyū Sorai and the Definition of Terms“, Japan Forum 13, Nr. 2 (2001): 252–53.

  33. 33.

    Ogyū Sorai, 165 and 249; Tucker, Ogyū Sorai’s Philosophical Masterworks: The Bendō and Benmei, 314.

  34. 34.

    Ogyū Sorai, 169 and 250; Tucker, Ogyū Sorai’s Philosophical Masterworks: The Bendō and Benmei, 319.

  35. 35.

    Ogyū Sorai, 168 and 250 (Benmei); see also 28 and 205–206 (Bendō).

  36. 36.

    Ogyū Sorai, 169 and 250 (Benmei).

  37. 37.

    Ibid.

  38. 38.

    Shimada Keiji島田慶次 (ed.). Ogyū Sorai zenshū 荻生徂徠全集 (Tokyo: Misuzu Shobo, 1973), vol.1, 432–433.

  39. 39.

    This passage also shows that Tucker is not precise in translating 詩書禮樂 as the titles of four of the six classical books; see Tucker, Ogyū Sorai’s Philosophical Masterworks: The Bendō and Benmei, 312–313. Sorai is talking here about the content of these books; see Richard H. Minear, “Ogyū Sorai’s Instructions for Students: A Translation and Commentary,” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 36 (1976): 11.

  40. 40.

    Ogyū Sorai, 170 and 251 (Benmei); see also ibid. 34 and 207 (Bendō) as well as 190 and 256 (Gakusoku): “Space is like time; time is like space. Thus, if we see old words in terms of today’s words, or today’s words in terms of the ancient words, then in both cases they will be gibberish”; the translation is Minear’s; see “Ogyū Sorai’s Instructions for Students,” 16.

  41. 41.

    The letter is quoted and translated in Olof G Lidin, The Life of Ogyū Sorai a Tokugawa Confucian Philosopher (Lund: Studentlitteratur, 1973), 99–100. I adopted Lidin’s translation with a few stylistic changes.

  42. 42.

    See Ogyū Sorai, 179 and 253 (Benmei).

  43. 43.

    Ogyū Sorai, 164 and 249; the translation is adopted from Tucker, Ogyū Sorai’s Philosophical Masterworks: The Bendō and Benmei, 313.

  44. 44.

    Ogyū Sorai, 455–456; the translation is adopted with minor changes from McEwan, The Political Writings of Ogyū Sorai, 134–135.

  45. 45.

    See also Sorai’s remark in Master Sorai’s Responsals in Shimada Keiji 島田慶次 (ed.). Ogyū Sorai zenshū荻生徂徠全集 (Tokyo: Misuzu Shobo, 1973), 431; and Ogyū Sorai, 70 and 219. Also compare what Sorai says in the Clarification of Names on virtue (徳) as a property of the body; see Ogyū Sorai, 50 and 212.

  46. 46.

    Ogyū Sorai, 164 and 249 (Benmei).

  47. 47.

    See his “Reinterpreting the Analects – History and Utility in the Thought of Ogyū Sorai,” 131–134.

  48. 48.

    Ogyū Sorai, 167–168 and 250 (Benmei); see also Tucker, Ogyū Sorai’s Philosophical Masterworks: The Bendō and Benmei, 317.

  49. 49.

    See, for example, Xinzhong Yao, An introduction to Confucianism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 216–23.

  50. 50.

    This is what constitutes the modernity of Sorai’s thought according to Masao Maruyama, Studies in the Intellectual History of Tokugawa Japan (Princeton University Press: University of Tokyo Press, 1974), 69–113.

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  1. University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Paulus Kaufmann

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  1. Institute of Education, University of Zurich, Zürich, Switzerland

    Roland Reichenbach

  2. Department of Education, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea (Republic of)

    Duck-Joo Kwak

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Kaufmann, P. (2020). Ogyū Sorai on the Content and Intent of Learning. In: Reichenbach, R., Kwak, DJ. (eds) Confucian Perspectives on Learning and Self-Transformation. Contemporary Philosophies and Theories in Education, vol 14. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-40078-1_5

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