Industrial Democracy for Japan: Tanaka Ōdō and John Dewey

Author(s): Sharon H. Nolte

Source: Journal of the History of Ideas, Vol. 45, No. 2 (Apr. - Jun., 1984), pp. 277-294
Published by: University of Pennsylvania Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2709292 .
Accessed: 21/06/2014 23:51

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

University of Pennsylvania Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to
Journal of the History of Ideas.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 91.229.229.129 on Sat, 21 Jun 2014 23:51:51 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 INDUSTRIAL DEMOCRACYFOR JAPAN:
TANAKA ODO AND JOHN DEWEY

BY SHARON H. NOLTE

John Dewey (1859-1952)had perhapsthe greatestglobal influence

of any Americanphilosopher,and Japanwas the earliestand most vig-
orous assimilatorof Westernthoughtin the non-westernworld;still we
have no thorough English-languagestudy (and little in Japanese)of
Dewey's influencein Japan.The neglectis all the more surprisingsince
Japan specialistsconventionallydescribea pragmatictendency in the
temperamentof the Japanesepeople,and philosophicinstrumentalism in
the thought of Ogyu Sorai (1666-1728),who describedinstitutionsand
valuesas the artifactsof changingsociety.1Sorai'sphilosophy,however,
was enmeshedin his justificationof the samurairight to rule. The legal
privilegesof the samuraiwere abolishedin 1868 when the Meiji Resto-
rationinaugurateda nationalmobilizationfor industrializationandworld
power status;by the turn of the centuryJapaneseintellectualsdebated
the ideas of John Dewey and other philosophersas part of a conscious
nationaleffort to adapt to, and even anticipate,rapid industrialization.
Theirjudgments,part of an emergingworld communityof ideas in the
twentiethcentury,reveala great deal aboutthe modem transformation
of Japan,the significanceof an Americanphilosophyas viewedby Jap-
aneseintellectuals,andthe processesof intellectualandculturalexchange
with the United States.
A first and foremost proponentof instrumentalismin Japan was
TanakaOdo (Kiichi, 1867-1932),who studiedwith Dewey at the Uni-
versityof Chicagobetween 1893 and 1897.Upon returningto Japanhe
served as a professorof philosophyat WasedaUniversityand leading
essayistin the rapidlyexpandingnewspapersand semi-popularjournals.
These roles illuminatethe natureand limits of his influencein Japan,
and help to explainhis neglectby historians.Wasedaas one of Japan's
pre-eminentprivateuniversities,was less prestigiousthan the imperial
universitiessuch as Tokyoand Kyoto, andmoreindependentof the state.
WhileTokyo graduateshave predominatedin bureaucraticcareers,Wa-
seda graduateshavemadecareersin the politicalparties,business,teach-
ing, andjournalism;many Wasedaprofessors,like Tanaka,preferredto
write for serious but generalinterestjournals such as CentralReview
(Chubkbron)ratherthan for specializedacademicpublications.Waseda
becamea centerof the studyof Americanpragmatismthroughthe efforts
'I am indebted to the thoughtful comments of Professor Shumpei Okamoto, and to
Kenneth Inada. On Ogyi Sorai see, for example, Maruyama Masao, Studies in the
Intellectual History of TokugawaJapan, trans. Mikiso Hane (Tokyo, 1974); Tetsuo Najita,
and Irwin Scheiner, eds. Japanese Thought in the Tokugawa Period (Chicago, 1978).

277
Copyright 1984 by JOURNAL OF THE HISTORY OF IDEAS, INC.

This content downloaded from 91.229.229.129 on Sat, 21 Jun 2014 23:51:51 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
278 SHARON H. NOLTE

of Tanaka,his studentssuch as Ueda Seiji and Nieda Rokusaburo,and

youngercolleaguessuch as H6ashiRiichiro-an orientationwhich con-
tinuestoday. Tokyo Universityalso had its Anglo-Americancontingent
but was more notablefor its pursuitof Germanphilosophy,especially
Neo-Kantianidealism.Thus,TokyoUniversityscholarshavebeenviewed
as moreprofound,moreelite, closerto the centersof bureaucraticpower
and, afterJapanjoined the Axis Alliancein the 1930s,definitiveof the
generalthrustof moder Japaneseculturalhistory.In contrast,the Amer-
ican influenceat Wasedahas been diffusedamong a less powerfulbut
morenumerouselite of journalists,teachers,and businessmen,with per-
hapsevena greaterlong-termimpacton Japan'sculturethanthe German
philosophyat Tokyo University.2
Among the many questionsraisedby Westerninfluencesand rapid
industrializationin modernJapan,the possibilityand desirabilityof de-
mocracywas most portentous.Tanakawas a vigorousadvocateof the
movementknown as Taish6 democracy.This democraticmovement,
risingaroundthe timeof the Russo-Japanese War(1904-05)andcentering
on the objectiveof expandingthe role of popularrepresentationin the
government,also encouragedthe considerationof more egalitarianre-
lationsin the family,religion,andeducation,the arts,andin international
relations.As an advocateof Taish6democracy,Tanakashoweda strong
commitmentto civil liberties,comparableto Dewey'sviewsbut directed
againstthe patriarchyand repressionwhich Tanakasaw in his contem-
poraryJapanesestateandsociety.He attackedin particulargovernmental
censorship,dogmaticand chauvinisticeducation,and the familysystem
which placed all mattersof propertyand marriageunderthe authority
of the householdhead. Becauseof his criticalconcernwith hierarchical
and repressiveauthoritybuttressedby an ethos of passive loyalty and
submission,Tanakaaccentedindividualismeven more than did Dewey,
who stressedthe needfor cooperationand socialengineeringin industrial
America.In his view, the firsttask of the democraticmovementin Japan
was the achievementof individualfreedomin thought,law, and custom.
The democraticmovement'sconsiderablepoliticalachievements(im-
plementationof the policy of formingcabinetsformedfromthe majority
partyin the legislature,and universalmanhoodsuffrage)workedmainly
to change relationsamong existing elites, and to promptadvocatesof
comprehensivesocial and cultural change to turn to socialism, com-
munism,and anarchism.Weakenedby internaldivision,the democratic
movementwas shatteredby the militaristicresponseto the international
economicand politicaltensionsof the 1930s.Tanaka'sinfluencedeclined
2Recent
scholarship has qualified, but not vitiated distinctions between the respective
intellectual climates of public and private universities; see Byron Marshall, "Professors
and Politics: The Meiji Academic Elite," Journal of Japanese Studies, 3 (Winter 1977),
71-98; James Bartholomew, "JapaneseModernization and the Imperial Universities, 1876-
1920," Journal of Asian Studies, 37 (February 1978), 251-72.

This content downloaded from 91.229.229.129 on Sat, 21 Jun 2014 23:51:51 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 INDUSTRIAL DEMOCRACY FOR JAPAN: TANAKA AND DEWEY 279

and virtuallydisappearedby the time of his death (1932), but was per-
petuatedby his student and closest confidantIshibashiTanzan,editor
of the major newspaperOrientalEconomist(oTybkeizai shinpb)from
1924 until the end of World War II, and then a Prime Ministerwho,
despitehis suddenresignationin poor health, spoke to the nation with
the moral authorityof a consistentopponentof repression,militarism,
and imperialism.
The acceptanceand growth of democraticinstitutionsin postwar
Japanhas promptedmany historiansto re-examinethe entire trend of
moder Japanesehistory,includingthe prewarassimilationof American
thoughtandculture.Beyondthe particularrolesof TanakaandIshibashi,
the historianShibataShingo credits Americanpragmatismand instru-
mentalismwith a broadinfluenceof twentieth-century Japanesethought
and society, designatingpragmatismas "the philosophyof the Taish6
democracymovement,"which was also a stimulusto Neo-Kantiansof
the Heidelbergschool such as Nishida Kitar6,and to Japan'strendsof
naturalist literature,progressiveeducation, anarcho-syndicalism,and
studiesof businessmanagement,linguistics,psychology,and the philos-
ophy of religion.WhileAmericanthoughtwas suspectafterthe outbreak
of the warwith Chinain 1937,it was reintroducedwith greatenthusiasm
afterJapan'sdefeat.Groupssuchas the Societyforthe Scienceof Thought
(ShisoKagakuKenkyukai)and the AmericanResearchSeminar(Amer-
ika KenkyuSeminaa)haveprofoundlyinfluencedpostwareducationand
researchlargely throughtheir explorationof Dewey's theoriesof edu-
cation and knowledge.3An investigationof these themes would leave
untouchedfew areasof twentieth-century Japanesethought;yet the prob-
lem of cross-culturalintellectualinfluencerequirescarefulattentionto
historicalcircumstances,individualpersonality,and the particularcon-
ditionsof acceptance,of rejection,and of adaptation.An explanationof
why Tanakawas attractedto JohnDewey'sphilosophy,how he changed
it to fit his perceptionof the Japanesecontext, and how his assessment
of moder Japan differedfrom Dewey's may suggest possibilitiesfor
broaderresearch,and invite Americansto renew this trans-Pacificdia-
logue.
Tanaka'sdifferencesfrom Dewey are less noteworthythan his fun-
3Shibata Shingo, Nihon no kindai shisb, [Modem Japanese thought] [Lectures on
Contemporary Philosophy] K6za gendai no tetsugaku, (Tokyo, 1958), V, 93-111. For
more general treatments of the American influence on modem Japan see Akira Iriye,
Power and Culture: The Japanese-American War, 1941-1945 (Cambridge, Mass., 1981);
and Mitani Taiichir6, Taishb demokdurashii ron [On Taisho democracy] (Tokyo, 1974).
For Japanese translations of Dewey through 1956, see Outlines of a Critical Theory of
Ethics, 1900;School and Society, 1905, 1923, 1935, 1950, 1955;Democracyand Education,
1919, 1927; Schools of Tomorrow,1920; Ethics, 1919, 1927; Reconstructionin Philosophy,
1921, 1922, 1950; Psychology, 1931; Questfor Certainty, 1935; Experience and Education,
1950; How we Think, 1950; Human Nature and Conduct, 1950; Freedom and Culture,
1951.

This content downloaded from 91.229.229.129 on Sat, 21 Jun 2014 23:51:51 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
280 SHARON H. NOLTE

damentalacceptanceof instrumentalism.When he met John Dewey he

was twenty-sixyears old, imbuedwith the intellectualcurrentsand na-
Japan.He resembledmany other
tional goals of late nineteenth-century
intelligentand ambitiousyoung men of the 1880swho were resolvedto
learn from the West in order to aid their country'stransitionto the
moder world. Born in 1867 in the village of Nakatomujust outside
Tokyo, Tanakawas the second son of a well-to-dolandlordfamily. In
his earlyteens, he ran away to Tokyo, wherehe first lived by sellinghis
books.He attendedfourmissionaryschoolsin four years,but apparently
graduatedfrom none.4
In seekinga missionaryeducation,Tanakaself-consciouslyaimedat
the reconstructionof Japanesesociety. He admiredthe comprehensive
vision of the Confuciansages, while rejectingtheir insistenceon social
hierarchy,and disparagedthe prevailinglimitedutilitarianapproachto
Westernlearning.Men of learning,he instructedhis elderbrother,should
move beyond the Confuciansages and the limited utilitarianstudy of
Western scholarshipto conceive a new all-encompassingphilosophy,
"evenknowingthat it is impossiblein modernsociety."5
Summonedhome for his army draft physicalexaminationin 1887,
Tanakabrieflyremainedon the familyfarm.The next year he accepted
a translatingand English-teachingjob with the Americanmissionary
EugeneSnodgrass(Disciplesof Christ)in Tsuruoka,in YamagataPre-
fecture.Snodgrasssucceeded,where four years of missionaryschooling
had failed,in convertingTanakato baptismin Marchof 1889.This feat
is attributable,perhaps,to the Disciples'anti-sectarianclaims,to Snod-
grass'high reputeas a Biblicalscholar,and to the lure of an American
education.With the assistanceof his family and missionaryfriends,
Tanakaboardeda steamshipfor San Franciscoin August of 1889, and
attendedSnodgrass'alma mater, the College of the Bible (Lexington
TheologicalSeminary)for three years.6
4Tanaka attended D6jinsha (Nahamura Keiu's academy), Tokyo Eiwa Gakko (Ao-
yama Gakuin), Tokyo Senmon Gakk6 (Waseda University), and D6shisha University in
Kyoto. Tanaka Kiichi, "Rirekisho" [Curriculum Vita] (1899), Waseda University Uni-
versity Daigakushi Henshujo, Tokyo, "Bungakubu ni kansuru shorui" [Documents con-
cerning the literature department]. His childhood and family were described by his
daughter Tanaka Miki in an interview (April 3, 1976).
STanaka Kiichi to Tanaka Keiji, April 20, 1889, letters in the private collection of
Professor Hanzawa Hiroshi, Tokyo Institute of Technology; and the Archives of Lex-
ington Theological Seminary.
6 Tanaka's
baptism is recorded in Eugene Snodgrass, "Diary," Archives of Lexington
Theological Seminary, "Snodgrass Papers"; Tanaka Kiichi to Tanaka Keiji, April 20,
1889. The United States was the most popular destination of Japanese students. During
the last third of the nineteenth century there were perhaps one thousand Japanese college,
university, and seminary students in the United States. The United States was favored
because of its relative proximity and cheaper cost of living compared with Europe, a
Japanese sense of identification with the newness and achievements in the United States,
and the influence of American missionaries, according to James T. Conte, "Overseas
Study in the Meiji Period: Japanese Students in America, 1867-1902" (Ph.D. dissertation,
Princeton University, 1977), 28-35.

This content downloaded from 91.229.229.129 on Sat, 21 Jun 2014 23:51:51 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 INDUSTRIAL DEMOCRACY FOR JAPAN: TANAKA AND DEWEY 281

He was gratefulfor the exceptionalkindnessand financialsupport

which he received from American missionariesin Japan, and at the
Collegeof the Bible.Still, he did not formany discerniblelastingfriend-
ships with his missionaryteachers.His lettersfrom the Statesexpressed
feelingsof outragetowardthose insularAmericanswho thought Japan
was a colony of some great power or a provinceof China. Christian
sectarianism,as well as racialand nationalbigotry,turnedmany young
men of Tanaka'sgenerationagainstChristianityand the West, and John
W. McGarvey,who taught Tanaka and headed the College, was de-
nounced for puritanicalintolerancein James Lane Allen's classic The
Reign of Law (1900). After leaving the College of the Bible, Tanaka
maintainedno church affiliation,nor did his writings convey any ex-
plicitly Christianthemes.7
Extraordinarilyreticent about his personallife and intellectualde-
velopment,Tanakaleft no explanationof his transferto the University
of Chicagoin 1892.Most probablyhis personalconnectionwas with the
Disciplesof Christleadersat Chicago-Edward ScribnerAmes, William
Lloyd Garrison,or H. S. Hillett-whose religionwas diffuseand largely
submergedin social consciousness.He left the ChicagoDivinity House
after living there for one year, a move paralleledby his shift to the
rigorouslysecular classroomsof James Tufts (history of philosophy),
GeorgeHerbertMead(logic and the methodologyof psychology),James
R. Angell (experimentalpsychology),and John Dewey (historyof logic
and logic of ethics).8
The searchfor a comprehensive,philosophicvision of modem Jap-
anese society and ethics informedTanaka'sattractionto, then rejection
of, both Confucianismand Christianity;he was a consistentnationalist
but not a chauvinist.Speakingto a group of Japanesestudentsat the
Universityof Chicagoin 1894(beforehe beganhis studieswith Dewey),
Tanakadefiantlyhonoredthe Emperor'sbirthdayby decryingthe pa-
trioticfrenzyduringthe Sino-Japanese War.The real progressof Japan,
he claimed,lay in education,not in a militaryvictory over China.Dis-
tinguishinghis unhappinesswith Japaneseimperialismfrom socialist
critiques,he added that the rule of any one class was arbitraryand
unnecessary.Tanakabeganhis studieswith JohnDewey,GeorgeHerbert
Mead,JamesR. Angell,andJamesH. Tuft,with someclearlydiscernible
predispositions: a condemnationof jingoisticnationalism,a concernwith
the selectiveuse of technologicaladvancesfor humanisticgoals, a rejec-
tion of class struggle,and an abidingfaith in the resolutionof complex
social issuesthrougheducation.Theseorientationswerecharacteristicof
pragmatismat the Universityof Chicago.9
7Tanaka Kiichi to Tanaka Keiji, April 20, 1889.
8Tanaka's course of study at Chicago is recorded in "Register of the University of
Chicago, 1894-98," and "Instructor'sReports," University of Chicago Archives, Chicago.
9Tanaka Kiichi to his family, September 23, 1984. Tanaka's professors at Chicago
Dewey, Mead, Angell, and Tufts have been described as "the nucleus of the Chicago
school of paragmatism," and are discussed in detail in Darnell Rucker, The Chicago
Pragmatists (Minneapolis, 1969).

This content downloaded from 91.229.229.129 on Sat, 21 Jun 2014 23:51:51 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
282 SHARON H. NOLTE

WhateverTanaka'smotives,he was singularlyfortunatein entering

the most creativeintellectualmilieu in the United States at that time.
The Chicagogroup'sinnovationappealedto Tanaka,a young man of
the Meiji era concernedwith constructinga new Japan.Dewey, Mead,
Angell, and Tufts "weredeliberatelybreakingwith traditionsof thought
andscholarshipopeningnew paths,challengingintellectualandacademic
habits, devisingnew ideas and terminologies."1' Behind the originality
and even idiosyncracyof their individualstyles, these men had a rare
sense of intellectualcommunityand cross-fertilization
withina common
frameof reference.
Tanakawas also fortunatein attractingthe personalsupportof John
Dewey (then a junior assistantprofessor)for the doctoralprogram,but
no fellowshipwas forthcoming.Since Dewey's assiduousefforts to get
fundsby findingtranslationjobs forTanakamet with only partialsuccess,
Tanaka returnedto Tokyo with his bachelor'sdegree and a letter of
recommendation froma philosopherthenbetterknownthanJohnDewey,
namely Paul Carus (editorof the Monist).1Carusexpressedhis hope for
Tanaka'ssuccessin "hisaspirationsof discretelyadaptingWesternschol-
arshipto the needsof the Japanesepeople."12 Tanakaapparentlyhad no
furthercontactwith Dewey until Dewey visitedJapanin 1919. Little is
knownaboutthe meetingexceptthat it resultedin Tanaka'sintroduction
and marriageto TakanashiTaka, a feminist eighteen years his junior
who had just completedher M.A. in social work at the Universityof
Chicago,and was a distantrelativeof the eminentbankingpioneerShi-
busawaEiichi,who sponsoredDewey'slectureseriesat TokyoUniversity.
ThoughDewey's visit coincidedwith the peak of the democraticmove-
ment and prompteda waveof translationsand analyses,it is to the credit
of Tanakaand other early interpretersthat Dewey's generalviews were
alreadyfairlywell known to Japaneseintellectuals.13
0William James, The Letters of WilliamJames (New York, 1920), II, 201-02: Damell
Rucker, op. cit., ii.
"John Dewey to Paul Carus, May 11, May 30, and July 26, 1896, Morris Library,
University of Southern Illinois, Carbondale, "Dewey Papers"; Kiichi Tanaka to Paul
Carus, May 21, June 24, 1896, and May 27 and September 30, 1897.
12 Paul Carus re Tanaka, May 27, 1897, Morris Library, "Archives of the Open Court

Publishing Company." On Carus, see Kee S. Shin, "Paul Carus' Positive Monism and
Critique of Other Types of Monism," Ph.D. Dissertation, Temple University, 1973, 50
ff.
3Dewey's lectures (all with Japanese interpreters) at Tokyo Imperial University in
1919, later published as Reconstructionin Philosophy, were: Feb. 25, "Conflicting Ideas
as to the Meaning of Philosophy"; Feb. 28, "Knowledge as Contemplative and Active";
March 4, "Social Causes of Philosophic Reconstruction"; March 7, "Moder Science
and Philosophic Reconstruction"; March 11, "The Changed Conception of Experience
and Reason"; March 14, "The Reconstruction as Affecting Logic"; March 18, "The
Reconstruction Affecting Ethics and Education";March 21, "Reconstruction as Affecting
Social Philosophy."
Dewey also lectured at Keio University on February26 on "Business and Democracy;"

This content downloaded from 91.229.229.129 on Sat, 21 Jun 2014 23:51:51 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 INDUSTRIAL DEMOCRACY FOR JAPAN: TANAKA AND DEWEY 283

On returning to Japan in 1897, Tanaka promptly called for the ad-

aptation of Western thought to Japanese conditions, and styled himself
an "exponent of the pragmatic spirit" but never a wholly committed
pragmatist or instrumentalist. His only explicit discussion of Dewey
emphasized the relevance of Dewey's democratic ideals to the acute
problems of American industrialization:
John Dewey's philosophyis the philosophyof an American.... [His] is the
philosophyof industrialdemocracy.All the defectswe can see in contemporary
America,the arrogance,vacuity,contradiction,and weakeningspiritualpower
come from a single root. That is, that the laws and moralsstemmingfrom the
society of seventeenth-century and eighteenth-century Europe,transmitted[to
Americans]by their ancestors and still honored,are inadequateto fulfill the
real needs of their presentlife.... This is the aim of the philosophyof John
Dewey.14
Tanaka saw Dewey as he saw himself, a debunker of outmoded beliefs
and systems, a prophet of the new order, a spokesman for industrial
democracy. He also found America similar to Japan, outgrowing old
systems and values and searching for new ones. Despite these similarities
he understood the need to adapt Dewey's insights to Japanese conditions.
Demanding modern, individualistic Japanese culture, he berated his col-
leagues in philosophy for their reverence toward foreign scholars, and
their tendency to divide into exclusive, competitive schools rather than
engage in the exchange of ideas. His aversion to unassimilated imported
ideas and intellectual labelling may explain his reluctance to acknowledge
his debt to Dewey. Nevertheless his entire writing career bore the imprint
of Dewey's instrumentalism, especially in his conceptions of evolution,
psychology, and the relationship of the individual to society.
The theory of evolution, especially in the form of Social Darwinism
developed by Herbert Spencer (1820-1903), was extremely popular in
Japan at the turn of the century, as it was in the United States, though
Japanese theorists were more inclined to stress the idea of "survival of
the fittest" among nations rather than among individuals. Tanaka, too,
assumed that it was "impossible to explain the workings of any system,
custom, or thought, apart from the conditions of adaptation to the en-
vironment." At the same time, he felt that biological evolution per se

at Waseda University on March 8 and 15 on "Philosophic Basis of Democracy;" and in

a Japanese church on "The Moral Meaning of Democracy" on March 19. George
Dykhuizen, The Life and Mind ofJohn Dewey (Carbondale, 1973) 186-88, 372-73. Dewey's
many lectures in China, over a period of twenty-six months, are partially transcribed
and fully listed in Robert W. Clopton and Tsuin-chen Ou, John Dewey:Lectures in China,
1919-1920 (Honolulu, 1973).
'4Tanaka Odo, "Jiyon Dhuei (sic) no tetsugaku" [The philosophy of John Dewey],
in Sbzb to iraku [Creation and pleasure] (Tokyo, 1921), 224ff.

This content downloaded from 91.229.229.129 on Sat, 21 Jun 2014 23:51:51 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
284 SHARON H. NOLTE

merelyaffordeda perspectivefromwhichto examine,not explain,human

society. He saw a continuousand indeterminateprocess of human in-
teractionwith the environmentwhichprecludedany institution,custom,
value, or philosophyfrom being consideredfinal or definitive.Tanaka
envisionedsocietiesas constantlyevolvingorganismswhich could not be
reducedto social scientificlaws; thus scholarsshould not mechanically
extendthe insightsof biologicaland physicalsciencesto socialproblems.
He, like the Chicagopragmatists,emphasizedthe scientificmethod,not
scientific"laws."'5
Dewey had little use for the allegedlyscientificsociallaws of Auguste
Comte (1798-1857)and HerbertSpencer,and stressedinstead the ex-
perimentaland undogmaticnatureof scientificmethod:
As naturalsciencefoundits outletby admittingno idea, no theory,as fixedby
itself, demandingof every idea that it must becomefruitfulin experiment,so
mustethicalsciencepurgeitselfof all conceptions,of all ideals,savethosewhich
are developedwithinand for the sake of practice.'6

Refutingthe idea that "scientificlaws"dictatedparticularsocial policies

or modes of behavior,Dewey regardedthe scientificmethod as an in-
strumentof progressive,experimental,and liberatinghumanactivity.
Confidentthat all humanknowledge,includingmathematicsand the
naturalsciences, should take the form of postulates,Tanaka,like the
Chicago pragmatists,criticizedWilliam James'sdualismwhich distin-
guishedbetween"theprinciplesof scienceandthe principlesof religion."'7
Tanakaechoedthe Chicagopragmatists'view of scientificmethodas the
pointof departurefromwhichto developa monisticmethodin philosophy
that would comprehendall humanactivity,includingscientificresearch
itself. He regardedthe natural scientist to be a specialist concerned
exclusivelywith the naturalworld, and he assignedto philosophersthe
responsibilityfor explainingthe historical,cultural,and logical aspects
of the naturalscientist'sactivity as an inquirer.From this viewpoint,
Tanakaconsideredthe truthsof naturalscienceto be narrowerthan the
truths of philosophy,and less reliablein socially significantproblems.
Philosophywas to guide humanconduct,includingthat of naturalsci-
entists, by articulatingthe human interestsand the socioculturalcon-
ditionswhich inspired,permeated,and maintainedall humanactivity.
Seekinga coherentcomprehensiveconceptionof all humanbehavior,
fromphysiologicalfunctionsthroughthe highestartisticand intellectual
achievements,Tanakafollowed the Chicago pragmatistsin adoptinga
"STanaka,Fukuzawa Yukichi [Fukuzawa Yukichi], Odo senshu [Selected works of
Odo], II, ed. Ishibashi Tanzan (Tokyo, 1948), 64.
6John Dewey, "Self-Realization as a Moral Ideal," in The Early Works of John
Dewey, ed. Wayne R. Leys (Carbondale, 1971), IV, 53.
'Tanaka, "Ko-ky6ju Uiliamu Jiemusu o tsuiokusu" [Recalling the late Professor
William James], in Tetsujinshugi [Philosopher King-ism] (Tokyo, 1912), I, 32. On the
criticism of James's idea of the soul by Chicago pragmatists see Leys, Introduction to
The Early Worksof John Dewey, IV, xxiii.

This content downloaded from 91.229.229.129 on Sat, 21 Jun 2014 23:51:51 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 INDUSTRIAL DEMOCRACY FOR JAPAN: TANAKA AND DEWEY 285

new psychology.He creditedWilliamJameswith orientingpsychology

in a new directionby "replacingatomisticrationalismand crude empi-
ricismwith a freshand elegantfunctionalism."18 Althoughhe embraced
James'sconceptof "impulse"(shbdb)as more fruitfulthan the old stim-
ulus/response paradigm,he felt that the vocabularyof psychologywas
still inadequateto expressthe complexitiesof humanbehavior:"Forthe
loweranimalswith theirinstincts,life is a datum;for humanbeingswith
their impulses,life is a problem."'9This statement,a literal quotation
fromDewey's TheStudyof Ethics:A Syllabus(Chicago:1893),recurred
frequentlyin Tanaka'swritings,with the italicizedwords in English.20
Tanakapostulateda complexandintegratedpsychologyin whicha whole
rangeof responsesto any situation-physical, emotional,mental-were
linkedwith each other,with past experience,with the situationitself and
with its resolutionin behavior.This psychologyrejecteda sharpdualism
betweenstimulusand response,betweenorganismand environment.
The Chicagopragmatistsaggressivelydevelopedthis new psychology
of experienceto challengesuchtraditionalphilosophicaldualismsas mind
and matter,ideal and real, subjectand object. In their conception,an
organism'simpulsetowardits environmentcould not be determinedby
the inherentnature of external surroundings,but neither could it be
located solely in the mind of the organism.Even the lower animals,
Dewey and Mead noted, createdtheir environmentsin some sense as
well as beingshapedby them. Meadillustratedthis point with reference
to the emergenceof a grass-eatinganimal.Grass,as food, was neithera
product of the animal'smind, nor a reality that existed in the world
before the animal evolved into being;it was the result of a process of
interactionand development.In a similarvein, Dewey sardonicallylik-
ened the idealist/realistfeud in philosophyto a debateover whetherthe
world was constitutedsolely of eatersor of food.21
The insistenceon seeing the relationshipbetweenan organismand
its environmentas a continuousprocessbecamethe nucleusof Dewey's
conceptof experience.It was also clearlypresentin Tanaka'sthinking:
It is commonlysupposedthat environmentand organismare independenten-
tities.... The natureof the environmentis set by the individualorganism,and
'8Tanaka,"Sh6doto shiso" [Impulseand thought],in Gendaibunkano honshitsu
[The substanceof contemporaryculture](Tokyo, 1929),4.
in Shosaiyorigait ni
19"Jiyushis6kano rinrikan"[Ethicalviews of a free-thinker],
[Fromthe study to the streets](Tokyo, 1911), 242-43, and "KuwakiShi no 'Puragu-
mateizumu(sic) ni tsuite'o yomu,"[On Kuwaki's"Concerningpragmatism"],part 2,
Tetsugakuzasshi,[Journalof philosophy],no. 236 (June 1906),28.
20Dewey,TheStudy of Ethics:A Syllabus,in The Early Worksof John Dewey,IV,
236. During the 1890s this study was "a scripture,treasuredin those years' dearth
of systematicwritingfrom ProfessorDewey's hand," accordingto Henry W. Stuart,
"Dewey'sEducationalTheory,"in Paul A. Schilpp,ed., ThePhilosophyof JohnDewey
(Evanston,1939),note to 314.
21Mead,cited in Rucker,op. cit., 28; Dewey, Essaysin ExperimentalLogic (New
York, 1916),270.

This content downloaded from 91.229.229.129 on Sat, 21 Jun 2014 23:51:51 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
286 SHARON H. NOLTE

the natureof the organismis set by the environment.One can take a particular
organismas the standard,and ask aboutthe natureof its environment;or one
can take a particularenvironmentas given, and ask about the nature of its
organisms.But from the outset to separatethe two, and think that each has a
distinctand fixed substance,is an error.22

Philosophers who abstracted concepts such as "mind" and "matter," he

insisted, should admit they were dealing with intellectual constructs for
specific and conscious purposes. The socio-cultural effects of that purpose
then afforded the criterion to judge the validity of the manner in which
the abstractions were to be used.
Tanaka believed that the clarification of philosophers' social and
cultural impact, and the dissolution of traditional philosophical abstrac-
tions and dualisms, would profoundly alter ethics and social relationships.
Seeking a new, more complex, and contextual understanding of human
activity and purpose, Dewey and Mead turned to experiments in labo-
ratory psychology. Tanaka drew on their results to proclaim a new age:
"Just as the study of existence was the philosophical thinking of the
passive Middle Ages controlled by religious authority, psychology is the
philosophical thinking of the active moder age controlled by experi-
ment."23Traditional authority, Tanaka believed, was buttressed by phi-
losophies of hierarchical dualism which ranked spirit higher than matter,
ideals higher than desires, reason higher than feeling. He echoed Dewey's
effort to dissolve these dichotomies.
Lacking idealistic principles of ethics, Tanaka was especially sensitive
to, and eager to refute, the charges of subjectivism, especially from Neo-
Kantian critics such as Kuwaki Genyoku and Nishida Kitaro. The con-
struction of a similar defense was a general concern of the Chicago
pragmatists who were vexed by the critical outcry over certain of William
James's less fortunate choices of language. James had presented an idea
of pragmatic truth as "the cash-value of ideas," and claimed that "the
nobler alternative tastes better." Dewey's explorations of logical theory
dissassociated his philosophy from James's voluntarism. Dewey recog-
nized that his own
... theorymay be calledpragmatism.But it is a type of pragmatismquite free
from dependenceupon a voluntaristicpsychology.It is not complicatedby
referenceto emotionalsatisfactionsor the play of desires.24

Tanakda, unlike Dewey, displayed little interest in logic; but he, like
Dewey, denied that pragmatism meant the defense of any bizarre notion

22Tanaka, "T6zai bunmei yugo no igi oyobi keika o ronzu" [The significance and
effect of the unification of Eastern and Western culture], in Shosai yori gaitb ni, 123-24.
23Tanaka,"Kaih6sha Uiliamu Jiemusu" [LiberatorWilliam James], Wasedabungaku
[Wadeda letters], series 2, no. 118 (Sept. 1915), 6; "Yokub6 no risoka, horitsuka" [Making
desires into ideals and laws], in Tettei kojinshugi [Radical individualism] (Tokyo, 1918),
142-43; and "Sh6od to shiso," 7-8.
24Dewey, Essays in Experimental Logic, 347.

This content downloaded from 91.229.229.129 on Sat, 21 Jun 2014 23:51:51 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 INDUSTRIAL DEMOCRACY FOR JAPAN: TANAKA AND DEWEY 287

which someone happened to find useful or pleasant. Pragmatism, in their

perspective, viewed knowledge, including ethical knowledge, with respect
to its underlying and motivating purpose, not its immediate use or sat-
isfaction.
A number of reviewerslegitimately complained about Tanaka's failure
to spell out the logical standards of his ethics. To Dewey and the Chicago
pragmatists, ethics, like psychology, ought not to ignore any aspect of
human activity:
Whenan act is right,thereis no higheror lower as to the impulsefromwhich
it proceeds.The satisfactionof hungerin its place (that is, one which unifies
the whole self) is as imperiousin its rightnessas the noblestact of heroismor
the sublimestact of self-devotion.25

Similarly, for Tanaka, the goodness of an act should be considered only

in relation to its entire context of past experience and present environ-
ment:
Past experienceattachesmeaningand value to competingimpulses;the choice
is one of better,not best. In humanaction one effect gives rise to anotherand
one relationdependson another,in an endlessweb;one merelycalculatesthe
relativevalues in the process.One might think that there is no choice but to
fly into a sort of skepticalmadness.But such an idea is merely an illusion,
departingfrom, or disregarding,life.26
In a fluid and evolutionary universe, there were for Tanaka infinitely
diverse possible situations; no choice would ever present itself again in
precisely the same fashion, and each decision had an objective existential
relation to its own unique context in which experience and environment
were equally real. Tanaka, in short, claimed it was perfectly possible, in
theory and in practice, to make valid or sound ethical choices without
taking refuge in idealist philosophy or foundering in limitless subjectivism.
The self-conscious experimental method of intelligence in its flexibility
of application was the best instrument for the constant reconstruction of
society.
Tanaka's considerable effort to apply the method of intelligence in
social ethics and cultural development thus enlisted the insights of the
Chicago pragmatists to explain change and the dynamics of reform. He
saw organized groups of persons, such as nations or sub-groups within
them, as entities which had developed historically certain accepted ways
of performing essential tasks in adaptation to their particular environ-
ments. His notion of environment with its referenceto history and culture
differed from the natural environment of biology. It postulated a social
environment which was created by the institutions, beliefs, customs, and
material achievements of the group's ancestors and contemporaries. To
change this social environment gradually, individuals had to study and
conserve this social and cultural legacy because society and culture con-
25Dewey, The Study of Ethics, 245.
26Tanaka,"Yokub6 no ris6ka, horitsuka," 142-43.

This content downloaded from 91.229.229.129 on Sat, 21 Jun 2014 23:51:51 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
288 SHARON H. NOLTE

tainedthe heritageof earliersuccessfuladaptation.ThoughTanakaas-

sumedthat the acceleratedchangeof modem societiesrequireda great
degreeof flexibilityand innovation,he remainedscornfulof those who
ignoredand spumed the past.27
He also warnedagainstviewing the evolutionaryadaptationof the
humanraceto the physicaland socialenvironmentas beingan automatic
and inevitableprocessby indicatingtwo tendencieswhich threatenedto
obstructit: the formationof antagonisticsocial classes and the onset of
rigidityin customs.Althoughhe regardedthe ossificationof customsas
a probleminerentin all historicalsettings,he felt that some institutions
were clearly more susceptibleto such a condition than others. In the
realm of ideas, for example,Tanaka suggestedthat metaphysicaland
epistemologicalthinkingtendedto obstructthe emergenceof new views
and ensnarephilosophersin problemswhich were, as posed, insoluble.
In contrast,the scientificmethod,which recognizedthat all knowledge
presupposeda set of "postulates"was distinguishedby its readinessto
jettison previous theories whenevernew conditions warrantedit. Al-
though many Americaneducationaltheoristsviewed Dewey's progres-
sivismas beingaimedat liberatingschool childrenfromthe deadweight
of pasthistoryand culture,JohnH. Randall,Jr. perceptivelyemphasized
that Dewey's eruditionand intense engagementwith past philosophy
made him "the greatesttraditionalistamong the leading philosophical
mindsof today."28 Dewey, Randallnoted, differedfromothertwentieth-
centuryphilosophers,especiallylogical positivists,in his beliefthat past
philosophywas still worthyof study. At the same time Randallstressed
the "revolutionary" impactsof Dewey's methodof social and historical
criticism, and his insistencethat past philosophybe "reconstructed."29
Tanaka was less interestedin his heritagein practice than in theory;
though he extolled the pragmatismof the rural innovatorNinomiya
Sontoku (1787-1856) and the WesternizerFukuzawa Yukichi (1835-
1901),he excoriatedtraditionalJapanesepolitics and religionas subjec-
tively idealisticand socially repressive.
In one sense, Tanaka'sflexible and gradualisticsocial philosophy
mirroredthe eclectic constructionof a moder state and its industrial
base in nineteenth-century Japan.In anothersense, he implicitlychal-
lengedthe ideologyof the MeijiRestoration,which was foundedon the
conceptof the divineimperialline, unbrokenfor ages eternaland source
of an eternaland immutableJapanesesocial and politicalmorality.This
ideologywas repugnantto Tanakain its clearclaimto transcendconcrete
social situations,and in its isolation of Japan and the Japaneseon a
highermoralplanethan othernationsafflictedwith periodicrevolutions
againstthe ruling dynasty.He valued the independenceof all nations,
27Tanaka,"Sha6od to shis6," 7-8.
28John H. Randall, Jr., "Dewey's Interpretation of the History of Philosophy," in
Schilpp, op. cit., 81. 29Ibid, 93.

This content downloaded from 91.229.229.129 on Sat, 21 Jun 2014 23:51:51 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 INDUSTRIAL DEMOCRACY FOR JAPAN: TANAKA AND DEWEY 289

denounced Japanese imperialism, and called for a new national culture

which would self-consciously be adapted to social and technological
change. Direct denunciation of the imperial ideology, however, was sub-
ject to publication bans, harassment, loss of employment, imprisonment,
or execution. Hence Tanaka propounded an alternative ethos, "radical
individualism," which denied that state and moral aims could be con-
ceived except on a basis of ever-changing individual interests. Inspired
by William James's The Will to Believe (1897) which distinguished James's
radical empiricism from previous empiricisms, Tanaka's "radical indi-
vidualism" proposed to remedy the defects of previous individualisms,
not by discarding them and seeking out new principles, but rather by
developing individualism to its ultimate meaning.30
Tanaka attributed the great error of the old, individualistic political
philosophies to their assumption that "the individual's happiness nec-
essarily collides with the culture of the past, and with the interests of
other individuals" (ibid., 31-32). In real life, he saw conflicting desires
within one individual, and conflicts among differnt individuals, tending
to work themselves out over time. Solutions were possible through re-
flection, debate, and evolutionary change in self and society. Tanaka
examined this process of societal debate and resolution from an individual,
rather than social, viewpoint. Instead of viewing cooperation in terms of
an individual's submission to some abstract conception such as the "com-
mon good," Tanaka saw cooperation in terms of the individual's inter-
nalization of the habits and opinions of his social group. The individual
could reconstruct these habits and customs to suit his own temperament
and interests:

Throughouthis life the individualconstructsa varietyof meanswith which to

expresshimself, but at first he must use existing forms. In his scrutinyand
appreciationof these existing forms, he graduallycreates anew those forms
appropriateto his self-expression.... What is called imitationis actuallyfor
him, a type of creation,the early stage of creation(ibid., 32-33).

The imperceptible transition from imitation to creation certainly ex-

pressed Tanaka's view of moder Japan's technological and cultural
borrowing; it also demystified inherited systems and offered an individ-
ualistic basis for Japanese democracy:

From the viewpointof the social system,onw sees the sameprocess:that it can
be preservedonly by reconstructionand creationon the part of the individual.
For example,even in the field of law, takingthe law as an organto preservea
societywhichis alwayschanging,the law itselfis alwayschanging.... But who
can plan, consider,and accomplishchangesin the law?Thereis no one other
than the individualswho are chargedwith respectingthe law.... Ratherthan
law-abiding,we must becomelaw-creating(ibid., 16-17).

30Tanaka,"Tettei kojinshugi," Tettei kojinshugi, 3-4.

This content downloaded from 91.229.229.129 on Sat, 21 Jun 2014 23:51:51 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
290 SHARON H. NOLTE

The description of all citizens as law-creating was a bold assertion in a

country where the constitution was considered not a contract or expres-
sion of subjects' rights but a gift from the divine Emperor;where suffrage
was limited to male property owners and women were forbidden to attend
political meetings Tanaka advocated women suffrage, a rare position even
within the democratic movement. He rejected hierarchical ideology and
barriers based on class and sex as unnecessary to maintain social and
political order. His "radical individualism" located the potential for com-
munication and cooperation within the experience of individuals who
internalized and then reconstructed existing institutions:
The individualcarrierson his life together with other individualswho are
continuingthe cultureof the past. This is the only way he can preserveand
develophis own life. If necessaryhe can cultivate"publicmorality";he can
admire"universalfeelings";he can build "eternallaws";and it is possible,to
the extent that these views can be adapted to the life and ideals of other
individuals,that "objectivity"can be discovered.But at bottom,from start to
finish,these generalitiesare built havingas their standardthe individual'srec-
ognition,with his experienceas its gist, fromthe standpointof his individuality
(ibid., 17-18).
All values, laws, moralities, as well as notions of "the state" or "society,"
which claimed to transcend individual experience, were merely empty
abstractions, metaphysical entities.
Tanaka's radical individualism was firmly rooted in his analysis of
Japan's history and the contemporary democratic movement, and thus
differed from the Chicago pragmatism. Dewey, for example, assigned
equal importance to examining human activity from the point of view
of individuals or from that of society, insisting that either viewpoint
described the same process:
All ethicaltheoryis two faced. Societyis alwaysa society of individuals,and
the individualis always a social individual.... But we can state one and the
same process(as, for example,telling the truth) eitherfrom the standpointof
whatit effectsin societyas a wholeor with referenceto the particularindividual
concerned.31

Similarly, Mead's social psychology posited the group as prior to the

formation of the individual self through the media of language. Mead
also noted that any institution (such as science) could be described by
referringto the activities of individual persons making discoveries, sharing
and communicating them. Thus the Chicago school presented the choice
of the social or individual viewpoint as a matter of intellectual method.32
Tanaka's radical individualism employed both the social and indi-
vidual approaches, but differed from Dewey's view mainly in its exhor-
tatory tone, which implied that the accent on the individual aspect was
31Dewey, "Ethical Principles Underlying Education," in The Early Works of John
Dewey, V, 55-56.
32Mead, Movements of Thought in the Nineteenth Century, ed. Merritt H. Mead
(Chicago, 1936), 405-06.

This content downloaded from 91.229.229.129 on Sat, 21 Jun 2014 23:51:51 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 INDUSTRIAL DEMOCRACY FOR JAPAN: TANAKA AND DEWEY 291

less a matterof intellectualconveniencethan of relevanceto social prob-

lems. The heuristictone of radicalindividualismwas perfectlyin accord
with Tanaka's(and Dewey's) premisethat abstractconceptswere valid
if they articulatedand advanceddesirabletrendsin society (in this case,
the democraticmovement).He felt the most urgentneed of his time and
place was to cultivatea sense of individualresponsibility,which would
enablethe Japaneseto emancipatethemselvesfromoutmodedauthority,
to reconstructtheir society, and to create their own modem culture.
Quite simply, Tanakaadvocatedthe creationof a consciousnessof the
rights and duties of citizenship.
The profounddifferencesbetween the social and intellectualenvi-
ronmentof Japanand that of the United States in the early twentieth
centuryreadilyexplainthe differentemphasesof Dewey'sand Tanaka's
instrumentalism.Dewey, broughtup in the Vermonthome of a small
merchantof Congregationalist faith,sawlittleneedto convincehis readers
of the virtuesof personalindependence.He intendedto combatthe evils
of irrationalindividualismand laissez-fairecapitalismwith his assertion
of a cooperative"new individualism"which permittedexperimentsin
social engineering.33Tanaka,disenchantedwith the social engineeringof
the Meiji state and its deliberaterevampingof outmodedhierarchical
and authoritarianvalues,seizeduponindividualismas the moreessential
value. Both men denied any fundamentalor inherentcontradictionbe-
tween the individualand society, and each stressedthat facet of human
activity,individualismof cooperativism,which he found weakestin his
own society.Theirfreedomto chooseconceptsappropriateto theirsocial
circumstanceswas explicitand fundamentalin their instrumentalistphi-
losophy.
Tanaka'sinsistenceof individualpsychologyand educationas the
seedbedof politicalreformgainedcredenceafterthe end of WorldWar
I as liberalsbecame frustratedby the failureof legislativevictoriesto
bringabout social and culturalchange.The governmentof partyleader
Hara Kei in 1918, initially viewed as a democratictriumph,actually
tightenedstate controlover education,and renewedthe state onslaught
againstso-called"dangerousideas."At this pointthe reformof education,
and the creationof a new citizenrycapableof transformingsociety and
politics,becamea majortheme within the democraticmovement.
Two of Tanaka'scolleaguesin the Taish6 democraticmovement,
Tokyo UniversityprofessorAnezaki Mesaharuand journalistKimura
Kyuichi, directedtheir attentionto the archaicand despoticmentality
cultivatedin public education.Castigatingthe repressivenatureof the
Japaneseeducationalsystem, Anezaki equatedthe emergingmovement
on behalf of the rights of workersand women with a societal demand
that individualsshould be treatedas ends in themselvesratherthan as
means to strengthenthe state. Kimura Kyuichi rejectedgovernmental

33Dewey, Individualism Old and New (New York, 1930), 85.

This content downloaded from 91.229.229.129 on Sat, 21 Jun 2014 23:51:51 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
292 SHARON H. NOLTE

paternalismin favor of governmentby the people, using the somewhat

biologicalanalogythat, in citizensas in all livingcreatures,potentialities
atrophy if not used. Kimura propoundedthe Montessorimethod in
educationwhichencouragedchildrento developthroughtheirown spon-
taneous impulses,and he related this form of educationto the devel-
opmentof democracyin Taish6Japan,and ultimatelyto the "liberation
of mankind."34
The editorialsof the OrientalEconomist,which employedTanaka's
studentIshibashiTanzanand many other graduatesof WasedaUniver-
sity, similarlyevidencedthe convictionthat the greatestbarrierto Jap-
anese democracy was the legacy of values and social relationships
inheritedfrom the age of feudalismand despotism.The idea that edu-
cation directedat the freedomand enlightenmentof individualswould
transformsocietyand politics,and the morespecificimplicationsfor the
emancipationof youthandwomen,wereparticularlystressedin the short-
lived monthlyOrientalReview.The Reviewstaff constitutedthe nucleus
of the "LiberalLecture Society" which, as Ishibasi recalled, stressed
aboveall "thereformof Japaneseeducation."35 The Economistevidenced
its commitmentto public educationand enlightenmentin its steadfast
defenseof freedomof speech and expression,and denouncedthe con-
stellationof privilegedpower(bureaucracy,military,andzaibatsu)which
dominatedTaishi Japan.It encouragedthe emergenceof countervailing,
morebroadlybasedinterestgroups,especiallylaborunionsand women's
organizations,but saw the fundamentalpreconditionfor democracyin
politicaleducationratherthan politicalcompetition.
These Japaneseliberals,quickly eclipsedand suppressedin the na-
tionalisticreactionto economicandmilitarycrisisduringthe 1930s,were
remarkablein their optimism.Dewey, too, was cautiouslyoptimistic,
propheticallyjudgingthat "unlessthe worldovertlyand on a largescale
goes backon democracy,Japanwill moresteadilytowardsdemocracy."36
(Deweymet withTanaka,Anezaki,andotherliberals,raisingthe question
of whethertheiragreementresultedfromhis influenceon theirphilosophy

34 AnezakiMasaharu, "Jinponshugito jikk6"[Humanismandpractice],in OtaMasao,

ed., Taishbdemokurashiino ronsbshi[Debatesof Taish6 democracy](Tokyo, 1974);
KimuraKy-iichi,"Demokurashii no shinri"[The psychologyof democracy],ibid.
35IshibashiTanzan,quotedin Inoue Kiyoshiand WatanabeT6ru, Taishbkino kyu-
shintekijiyushugi[Radicalliberalismin the Taish6era] (Tokyo, 1972),8.
3Dewey, "Liberalismin Japan,"in Charactersand Events,ed. JosephRatner(New
York, 1970), I, 169; see also "JapanRevisited:Two Years Later."Dewey discussed
industrializationin China in many essays in this volume, and in Lecturesin China,
especially"TheRightsof Individuals,"147-55,and China,Japanand the US.A.:Present-
day Conditionsin the Far East and theirBearingon the WashingtonConference(New
York, 1921).Mead'sMind,Self, and Societywas publishedin Japanin 1941as part of
a series on "Theoriesof Totalitarianism" accordingto Adachi Yasushi, "Aspectsof
Pragmatismin Japan"(M.A. Thesis,Universityof Texas, 1969),29.

This content downloaded from 91.229.229.129 on Sat, 21 Jun 2014 23:51:51 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 INDUSTRIAL DEMOCRACY FOR JAPAN: TANAKA AND DEWEY 293

or from theirs on his view of Japan).Faith in the liberatinginfluences

of educationwas fundamentalto the Chicago school of pragmatism.
Dewey'sprogressiveeducationaltheoryreliedheavilyon GeorgeHerbert
Mead'sconceptionof the socialself, whichrecognizedthe extentto which
the self wasformedby society,andsuggestedthata newtypeof individual
who wouldremoldthe largersocietycouldbe nurturedby controlof the
"society"of young children,especiallyin schools. According to Neil
Coughlan,however,
Whathas kept [Mead's]thoughtin the forefrontof modemsocialscience,
of thesocializing
however,aretheclinicalandevensinisterimplications mech-
anismshe wroteabout:we arefascinatedby how thoroughlywe are conditioned
by our social environment,how little we are creaturesof ourselves.37
If many Japaneseadvocatesof educationaland social reform shared
Mead's optimism,they were stymied rather than "fascinatedby how
thoroughlywe are conditionedby our social environment."Anezaki,
Kimura,Ishibashi,and Tanakawere all too awareof the manipulative
uses of educationand the media. They confrontedphalanxesof peda-
gogues and politicianswho asserteddemocracyand liberalismwere so-
cially destructive,prone to elevate the welter of competingegos and
particularinterest groups over the greaterwelfare of social harmony.
These critics of democracy,i.e., Yoshida Kumaji,effectivelyseized the
"socialself' on behalfof an educationalsystemwhichdenigratedpolitical
democracyand idealizedthe state.
RandolphBourne and others criticized"an unhappyambiguityin
Dewey's philosophy as to just how values were created";38 similarly
Tanaka'scritics,especiallyidealistphilosopherssuch as NishidaKitaro,
and defendersof the Emperor'stranscendentdivinity such as Mitsui
Koshi, demandedTanakaclarify the standardsof his ethics. Tanaka's
instrumentalistposition,that values rightlyand properlyemergedfrom
particularpersonsand particulartemporal,social, and culturalcontexts,
was distinctfrom his historicaland ethicaljudgmentthat individualism
and democracyrepresentedthe dominant and most suitable political
values of moder, industrialsociety. Both positions served him well
duringthe first two decadesof the twentiethcentury,when philosophy,
art, literature,and the women'smovementexhaltedthe individual,and
gainsin representative governmentappearedto forma preludeto political
democracy.After World War I, however,Japaneseintellectuallife was
dominatedby advocatesfirst of class organization,then of state orga-
nization;laissez-faireindividualismwas pilloriedas outdatedand anti-
social, and Tanaka'sattemptsto propounda cooperativeand socially

"Neil Coughlan, Young John Dewey (Chicago, 1975), 149-150.

8Randolph Bourne, "Twilight of the Idols," Journal of the Seven Arts, 2 (1917), 696-
97.

This content downloaded from 91.229.229.129 on Sat, 21 Jun 2014 23:51:51 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
294 SHARON H. NOLTE

responsibleindividualismwerelargelyignored.Duringthe GreatDepres-
sion his visionof a peacefulworldof nationsengagedin voluntarycultural
exchangewas overshadowedby the contentionof mutuallyexclusiveand
belligerentnationalgoals. In this context Tanakawas confrontedwith
the dilemmaof choosingbetweenthose values which he thoughtought
to emerge from moder industrialsociety, and those contraryvalues
actually emergingin modern Japan. He reaffirmedhis cosmopolitan
individualism,andlost the vastmajorityof his readingaudience.Ishibashi
Tanzanwrote the epitaphwhich, in 1932, markedTanakaas a lonely
man: "A liberalin the true sense, a Japanistin the true sense."39
SouthernMethodistUniversity.

39IshibashiTanzan, Ishibashi Tanzan zenshu [Complete works of Ishibashi Tanzan]

(Tokyo, 1972), II, 254.

This content downloaded from 91.229.229.129 on Sat, 21 Jun 2014 23:51:51 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions