The Japanese and Western Science PDF
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The Japanese and Western Science Authenticated | [email protected] Download Date | 10/16/19 8:45 AM Authenticated | [email protected] Download Date | 10/16/19 8:45 AM The Japanese and Western Science Masao Watanabe Translated by Otto Theodor Benfey With a Foreword by Edwin O. Reischauer and a new Epilogue by the author Ujψ UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA PRESS Philadelphia Authenticated | [email protected] Download Date | 10/16/19 8:45 AM Nihonjin to Kindai Kagaku (The Japanese and Western Science) Copyright © 1976 by Masao Watanabe First published in Japanese 1976 by Iwanami Shoten, Publishers, Tokyo First published in English 1990 by the University of Pennsylvania Press Translation copyright © 1988 by Otto Theodor Benfey All rights reserved Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Watanabe, Masao, 1920- [Nihonjin to kindai kagaku. English] The Japanese and Western science / Masao Watanabe ; translated by Otto Theodor Benfey ; with a foreword by Edwin O. Reischaucr and a new epilogue by the author, p. cm. Translation of: Nihonjin to kindai kagaku. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8122-8252-3 1. Science—Japan—History. 2. Science—Philosophy—History. 3. Evolution—History. I. Title. Q127.J3W3713 1990 509'.52—dc20 'JO-13039 CI Ρ Authenticated | [email protected] Download Date | 10/16/19 8:45 AM Contents Foreword: Edwin O. Reischauer ix Translator's Preface xi Acknowledgments xiii Introduction: Japan's Modern Century 1 The Power of Modern Civilization In Search of Knowledge Some Examples 1. From Samurai to Scientist: Yamagawa Kenjlrö 6 Turning Toward Western Science Japan's Future and Physics The Beginnings of Physics Experiments with X-rays and on Extrasensory Perception The Promotion of Science and the Development of Education Japanese Traditions and Western Skill 2. Japan Studies of Foreign Teachers In Japan: Investigations of the Magic Mirror 23 Robert William Atkinson: The Theory of Varying Coefficients of Reflection William Edward Ayrton and John Perry: The Theory of Varying Curvature Due to the Megebö Gustave Ε. Berson: The Theory of Variation in Curvature Due to Thermal Stress Authenticated | [email protected] Download Date | 10/16/19 8:45 AM vi Contents Magic-Mirror Studies by Japanese Scientists The Echo in America: The Student Annual The Makio The Magic Mirror in Subsequent Years 3. A Zoologist Fascinated by Japan: Edward Sylvester Morse 41 From Shellfish to Ceramics: A Many-Sided Life Morse's Contributions to Biology The Theory of Evolution Involvement with Japan Science and Life 4. Response to a New Scientific Theory: Darwinism in the Early MeIJi Era 66 First Encounters with the Theory of Evolution The Theory of Evolution as Social Theory The Theory of Evolution and Christianity The Theory of Evolution Against the Background of a Different Worldview 5. Biology and the Buddhistic View of the Transience of Life: Oka Asajirö 84 Oka's Life and Thought The Decline and Extermination of the Human Species The Idea of the Transience of Life 6. Modern Science and the Japanese Conception of Nature: A Sketch 99 Differing Conceptions of Nature in Daily Life Varying Conceptions of Nature: A Structural Comparison The Western Viewpoint and the Rise of Modern Science The Japanese Outlook The Encounter with Environmental Destruction 7. Overall Perspectives: Tasks for Today 115 The Need for an Overall Perspective Authenticated | [email protected] Download Date | 10/16/19 8:45 AM Modern Science as the Product of a Worldview The Confrontation with Modern Science and Technology Concluding Comments Epilogue to the English Edition Bibliography Index Authenticated | [email protected] Download Date | 10/16/19 8:45 AM Authenticated | [email protected] Download Date | 10/16/19 8:45 AM Foreword Edwin Ο. Reischauer Dr. Masao Watanabe's brief book entitled The Japanese and Western Science is a fascinating contribution to our knowledge of modern Ja- pan. This is because it is written by a Japanese scholar for Japanese readers and deals not with the mastery of technology, at which the Japanese have proved so adept, but with the acceptance of the concepts of pure science, which borders on philosophy. A Westerner presented with the subject "The Japanese and West- ern Science" would probably discuss original Japanese weaknesses in science, possible propensities as compared with other non-Western nations, earlier glimmerings of Western science through the so-called "Dutch learning," the gradual introduction of scientific concepts and achievements, skillful Japanese imitations of Western science despite the scarcity of original contributions, and the current blossoming of Japanese inventiveness as well as superb technological skills. There is very little of all this in Watanabe's book, though there is a certain amount of overlap in detail concerning a few of the Western scientists who figured in the introduction of science to Japan. Instead, Watanabe deals largely with the intellectual and philosophical problems the Japa- nese met with in adopting Western science and the difficulties they still encounter. For example, their relationship with nature, which the Western scholar might miss entirely, is given very full and revealing treatment. Much of the book is devoted to Darwinism, which illustrated the differences in the way in which science was accepted in the West and in Japan. In the West, Darwinism proved a difficult hurdle to the accep- tance of modern scientific ideas, but in Japan it produced no such problem. Because of Shinto ideas, there were no clear lines between natural objects, such as rocks, trees, waterfalls, and mountains, and Authenticated | [email protected] Download Date | 10/16/19 8:45 AM χ Forcword living creatures of all sorts, vegetable or animal, and humans, or be- tween humans and gods. Buddhism had also brought the idea that the quality of one's present life might bring rebirth as a superior being or as an inferior one, like a bug or a worm. No one recoiled at the idea that humans could be descended from less advanced animal forms. In fact, Darwinism proved a support to the acceptance of Western science. The Japanese took readily to the idea of social Darwinism. It lent support to their already ingrained belief that the superior would tri- umph over the inferior, and they embraced the concept of the survival of the fittest, taking for granted that, despite the temporary physical superiority of the West in military and economic power, Japan's superi- ority in spirit would make it eventually supreme. Watanabe does not discuss these topics as the reverse of the picture I present here. He comes to the question in his own way, which is uniquely Japanese. To him, the Japanese adoption of science is basi- cally an exercise in philosophy. As he puts it, "when modern science is looked at as the product of a Western worldview, and particularly when its formative phase is examined, its true nature as an intellectual and spiritual human activity becomes evident." This is a most revealing book, worthy of study by anyone who wishes to know more about modern Japan, its tremendous success in modern science, and the problems it still faces in the scientific field. It must be admitted that the Japanese are changing radically, and younger Japanese who, unlike Watanabe, received their education entirely after World War II might well display very different attitudes toward science. But this is a significant book, which will greatly reward the reader. Authenticated | [email protected] Download Date | 10/16/19 8:45 AM
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