DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2016.9.16546

Abstract: The subject of this research is the history of development of Japanese Confucianism as the political philosophy, as well as the growing influence of the Confucian deontological ethics, expressed in the notions of righteousness truth, and agreement, upon the political and philosophical thought of Japan during the period of existence of its traditional culture subjected to its own logic of development. In parallel, the author examines the question of inconsistency of the influence of Shinto-Buddhist Syncretism upon the political aspects of the nation’s life, for the purpose of search for the intellectual grounds of such type of the statehood and society that can be associated with Japan. The author concludes that namely the Confucian political thought has formed the foundation of the deontological character of Japanese political culture. Analyzing the ancient legislative acts of Japan “The Seventeen-article Constitution”, the author believes that the crucial value for the Japanese political thought, along with the notions of righteousness and agreement, consists in the notion of the truth, which is the result of comprehension and reveals itself in realization; and thus, it can be understood as the moving force of the Japanese political culture.  

DOI: 10.7256/2409-8744.2016.1.17197

Abstract: The subject of this research is the Japanese Shinto intellectual tradition before introduction into it of the European philosophical terminology and accompanying disciplines in order to determine its philosophical foundations. The author suggests understanding Shinto not as a doctrine, but rather the principle of human relations with the sacred established in the Japanese culture, as well as the complex of Japanese national religious and cultural practices. Precisely through the presence of this core it becomes possible to explain not the character of the penetrating into the culture derivations, but the processes that affected them during integration into the comprehensive Japanese culture, which plays a much bigger role in understanding of the philosophical component of Shinto. Basing on the question of presence in Shinto of a cultural phenomenon of the written intellectual tradition, the author examines a number of theoretical expressions of the Shinto thought. The main conclusion consists in the fact that by understanding Shinto as a principle of formation of doctrines, which results in the ethical principles of an everyday life, we can remember that the Western philosophy in its very appearance in the Ancient Greece, also emerged as an art of living; thus, this confirms the existence within Shinto of the philosophical tradition.