Eurocentric Biases Within East Asian History
Before discussing Fukuzawa Yukichis's intellectual biases, several definitions must be made. For the purposes of this paper 'eurocentrism' is defined as the beliefs and methods of thought predominantly followed by european thinkers. This would include static notions of Orient and Occident where Oriental nations are naturally less developed than Occidental nations, notions of progress as being both linear and materialistic and; most importantly, the presence of empirical* systems of thought underlying philosophy and science. Any group of beliefs that does not include all of these characteristics falls outside the definition of eurocentric. There are two clauses in addition to the definition. Firstly, the assumption that an idea 'belongs' to one group or another is preposterous, the equation (A=B, B=C thus A=C) does not belong to Aristotle or Hellenistic culture even though he is its first known proponent. However a belief may be unique to, or have originated in one culture, like the concept of the Mandate of Heaven to the Chinese. The second clause within our definition adresses the subtle biase it assumes: if the notions of 'Orient' and 'Occident' are a uniquly western construct then by
"(3) Yukichi also criticizes East Asians in general for being "autocratic", "not knowing how to progress", when faced with civilization they are only able "to refer back to Confucianism" and the most telling of all: East Asians "cannot survive as independent nations with the onlsaught of Western civilzation to the East. Unfortunately there is not space to elaborate on this comparison further but Fukzawa writes in the same conflicted way Machiavelli does: just when his own reasoning leads him to conclude his country is doomed to subservience he steps in, pen in hand, to save his beloved nation. the outward manifestations of [Japanese] civilization seem to move forward, but the spirit of its people, the very essence of our civilazation, definitely moves backward. the Chechen people had contact with Persians they adopted Sunni Islam and view themselves as different than greater Russia, despite being from the same Caucasian majority background. (3) Before elaborating on these binaries, consider the concept of an East/West binary briefly. But the simple terms East and West are not adequate to explain Yukichi's underlying assumptions about east/west binaries: civilization/barbarism, archaic/modern, poor/rich, stagant/progressing etc. Yukichi tries to alert the Japanese to the utility of these new foriegn ideas, but in his haste he tends to denigrate Asian methods as 'carrying stupidity to ever greater heights"(10) which is unjustly harsh. He is not eurocentric (with the implications of hidden racism) because he also fears the incursions of the West into the East. In his work "Japanese Enlightenment and Saying Good Bye to Asia" Yukichi refrains from directly calling his countrymen backward shamans but the overall impression is that he fervently believes this. so voila! an undisputed answer! The point is that the answer to any question lies in its definition. Generally speaking at a time when there is contact between civilizations at much different levels of development, the more advanced imposes military or commercial sanctions on the weaker. Unless the definition of Eurocentric is broadened to include bigots, most Europeans and men of foresight who see obivous material opportunities by adopting Western standards; it will always leave something to be desired. Indeed he is probably one of the best-informed men on the subject. (5) Likewise, "the Ainu saw themselves simply as ordinary people, the word Ainu is the word for "human being.
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Acceptance Essays
