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SPECIAL ARTICLE

Japanese Civilization (Part 25) Towards a Civilization Based on the Value of Beauty – From the Values of Truth and Good – By Kawakatsu Heita

Photo: World Photo Service / MILANO: CIVICA RACCOLTA STAMPE BERTARELLI Truth, Good and Beauty as in the mass accumulation of economic Transversal Values wealth and military apparatus. In doing so, both revealed an unmistaken TRUTH, good and beauty are three character of a “civilization of power,” transversal values. This is not an arbi- which was created on the combined trary choice, but is attributed to a values of “truth” and “good.” At the German philosopher, Immanuel same time, both had also commonly Kant’s three critiques which had a showed the limitation of further devel- great influence on European philoso- opment by creating industrial waste on phy: La Critica della Ragion Pura a gigantic scale and putting even glob- (1781), La Critica della Pratica (1788), al environment in danger. and La Critica del Giudizto (1790), In retrospect, “the Earth Summit,” which depicts “truth,” “good” and the UN Conference on Environment “beauty.” and Development, held at Rio de Human beings enhanced humanity Janeiro in 1992, was a watershed of and enriched their intellectual heritage modern civilization, from the power- by increasingly acquiring these values. oriented stage to new and higher level T of human development. The Changing Pattern of the The Summit, the largest gathering Relative Importance of the Three of world leaders in history, with 172 Values in the West Immanuel Kant heads of states and representatives from 108 countries, showed great con- It seems that none of these three val- took place, immense wealth was accu- cern over the importance of “biodiver- ues should be placed at a superior mulated but at the same time it was sity”: all forms of life on the Earth, position. However, the modern civi- unequally distributed among people. whether useful or not for economic lization which emerged in the West The value of “good” then gained the development. It surpassed the “Limits and spread all over the world, has been utmost importance. of Growth” report published by the witnessing a pattern change of relative The criticism of the capitalists’ Club of Rome in the beginning of importance for over 400 years. exploitation by Marxism was one 1972 that was mainly concerned with In the 17th and 18th centuries when example based on the value of the the limits of natural resources for eco- “the scientific revolution” took place moral term “good” rather than of nomic growth. and the of the “truth.” Then, what is the main value which Enlightenment prevailed, based on the The development of nuclear physics can assure environmental protection discoveries by natural science which made it possible to drop the atomic and biodiversity on the Earth? When eliminated irrational superstitious bombs on Hiroshima and , we argue that the environment should thinking, the value of “truth” had the which shows another example that be preserved, our value is based on supreme importance. pursuing scientific truth is not enough beauty. What is beauty, then? The Pursuing scientific “truth” undoubt- for human well-being. Moral checks answer will be varied as an aesthetic edly became the basis of the Western had to be taken into account. sense is very much subjective and indi- civilization in the 19th and 20th cen- The cold war was a competition vidual. What is important, however, is turies when the industrial revolution, between two types of “good”: the West that every human being is endowed or accumulative inventions through believed in “freedom,” while the East with a sense of beauty by nature and the application of scientific knowledge had “equality.” the value of beauty can be universal. to industrial and military , Both sides were commonly engaged We can apply this value to the

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Photo: REUTERS¥SUN

Earth, or global environmental mat- ters. When we ask whether the Earth is “true”or not, the question does not make any sense. Neither does the question of whether the Earth is good or bad. The question whether the Earth is beautiful or not, however, makes sense, and we can answer clearly that “our planet is beautiful, indeed.” The civilization of power has flour- ished only at the cost of the global environment. A new civilization or a global civilization based on the value of beauty must emerge. Certainly, a sense of beauty is cultur- ally different, but it is possible to have a diversify to create a “civilization of beauty” just like the Earth. (From left) Rio de Janeiro Governor Leonel Brizola, Brazilian President Fernando Collor, Economy Minister Marques Moreira and Portuguese President Mario Soares plant trees for the Earth Summit in 1992 (at the previous event of the summit) The Case of Japan: an Example of an Opposite Pattern from the well under control. There was no wild associated with the keen interest in West nature in Japan and almost all the keeping human life neat and clean. A landscape was changed by human growing sense of cleanliness was attri- For comparison, let us look at the hands in the form of “gardens.” buted to Zen Buddhism which became experience of Japan as an instructive Altering wild nature to a garden-like increasingly popular among samurai. reference. Japan, one of the most landscape had yielded economic fruits, Zen Buddhism does not focus on advanced nations in the world, showed and Japan’s agricultural productivity the image of Buddha and it developed an original course in its value system. became the highest in the world. In a new form of art through its emphasis An overview of the last 400 years of economic history, the effort toward on daily practice. The garden was one Japanese history also shows a unmis- higher productivity equals to an indus- of its achievements and garden cre- takable changing pattern of the three trious revolution. Industrious revolu- ation was a serious art. Zen was also values. tion was a capital saving and labor associated with the tea-ceremony, In the middle of the 19th century, intensive type of production revolu- which became very popular among Japan opened itself to the world, and tion. This pattern could be contrast samurai, as a ceremony to bring spiri- followed the Western civilization of with the Western industrial revolution tual peace. Flower arrangements were power by pursuing scientific truth and which was a capital-intensive and indispensable elements for the tea cer- applying it to its economy and mili- labor saving of production revolution. emony, and it also helped to develop tary . Ever since the Both revolutions took place almost at gardening techniques. Restoration (1868), to be strong was the same time, in the 18th century. As When the nation was united at the “good” for the country. a result of the industrious revolution, beginning of the 17th century by the Before then, however, in the 17th and Japan’s agricultural productivity and peace 18th centuries, while Japan had been in became the highest in the world, while arrived after the long turbulence of seclusion, its dominant value was Britain enjoyed the highest productivi- civil wars, these aesthetic elements “beauty.” ty through the industrial revolution. came into full bloom, and the value of Seclusion meant that there was no Japanese have become industrious ever beauty spread to the people. frontier to develop outside the coun- since. Neo-Confucianism was adopted by try; natural resources was available As nature was carefully reserved and the Tokugawa government as the offi- only at home; the resources were not controlled, the Japanese people often cial learning, which encouraged all the wasted, reused and recycled to sustain have a perception of nature as “beau- samurai to study. There was no illiter- the economy. Nature was under the ty.” acy at all among the samurai class, utmost care of the people, and kept The value of “beauty” was closely both male and female. This con-

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tributed to establishing a moral code, After adopting Western values in the new theory known as “Bushido” in the early peri- late 19th century, Japan became mili- that arose in od. tarily and economically strong, waging the 20th century Neo-Confucianism emphasises on a sequence of wars against other coun- says that a specta- reason or truth. This in turn led to tries. tor’s actions could the development of a new form of The value of “beauty” might have influence the physical learning known as Rangaku (Dutch something to do with realizing peace universe. learning) in the 18th century. This was for a society. Such a society regards “Good” is very much relat- associated with searching for truth. violence as ugly and the antipole to ed to value for social science. From The Dutch learning introduced med- violence is “beauty.” Adam Smith to the Chicago School, ical science and astronomy. there have been economists who As we have seen, the Western values, For the Future believed in freedom as the utmost moved from “truth,” in terms of rela- important element for human well- tive importance through “good,” There is, however, no absolute being, while Karl Marx, Vladimir toward “beauty,” while those in Japan truth nor absolute good. The “truth” Lenin, Mao Zedong and others showed the opposite direction from argued here is the modern one and is believed in equality. “beauty,” through “good” to “truth.” very much a value for physical sci- These suggest that “truth” is reliant What happened to the society which ence, and we know that scientific on human subjectivity, and “good” is, valued “beauty”? First of all, there was truth is not absolute. Thomas S. to a greater extent, conditional to sub- virtually no war during the peri- Kuhn in The Structure of Scientific jectivity. “Beauty” is subjective od. Japan had produced and used Revolutions demolished the prevailing indeed. We cannot be free from sub- more guns than any other nation in view of science as the acquisition of jectivity in these values, especially in the 16th century, but abandoned the the objective knowledge of the truth, the case with “beauty.” For this rea- guns and enjoyed 270 years’ of lasting and argued that science was heavily son, we must respect the cultural and peace of the “Pax Tokugawana.” influenced by non-rational factors. A biological diversity of people.

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scape was comparable to the English indeed based on biological diversifica- garden, which he believed to be the tion that is truth of the Earth. Making Conclusion best in the world. Heinrich the garden islands will be a transversal Schliemann, an archaeologist who objective of human beings. If “beauty” will excavated Troy and Mycenae, visited become the main Japan and mentioned that every An extract from a lecture in the Symposium value for a human society Japanese house had a beautiful gar- “Cultural Diversity and Transversal Values,” held in a new civilization, what den. A British plant hunter observed at UNESCO in Paris, Nov. 7 to 9, 2005. kind of image can we envisage for that “if love of flowers is taken as a the outlook of international commu- yardstick to measure the level of cul- – This is the last article of the series – nities? tural advancement, Japanese folks are For a reference, let us glance over higher than British.” the outlook in Japan when All the Westerners were impressed Acknowledgment I would like to thank my readers who encouraged me to continue writing this the main social value was characterized by the “beauty” Japan. Ukiyo-e, series. I am also grateful to Japan Economic Foundation and the former as “beauty.” which depicted the daily folk life, fas- director General Tamori, who recommended me to start this series, and to the Foundation, particularly to the President Kusaka, who supported Quite a few Westerners visited cinated Western artists such as Claude my research financially. After some revision, this series will be published in Japan, and Monet, Pierre Augaste Renoir, Edgar due course by the International House, Tokyo Japan. Philipp Franz von Seabold to mention Degas who created a new movement a few, and left their observations. of Impressionism. Kawakatsu Heita is a professor of economic They were all impressed by the gar- An ideal appearance of the Earth history at the International Research Center for dens. Many Westerners visited after should be garden islands, in which diver- Japanese Studies in . His books and Japan opened to the world, and sified cultures are integrated and net- articles have been published in both English and Japanese. He also serves as an advisor for Rutherford Alcock, the first British worked as one unit. Beauty is the trans- various governmental bodies such as the diplomatic representative to Japan, versal value, but as it is based on cultural Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. mentioned that the Japanese land- diversity, its idea is not universal. It is

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