Fukuzawa Yukichi · 1875
An Outline of a Theory of Civilization
- Original title
- 文明論之概略 (Bunmeiron no gairyaku)
- Language
- Japanese
- Form
- Treatise
- Text
- No text yet
- English
- No English translation · English translation by David A. Dilworth and G. Cameron Hurst (Sophia University, 1973), not public domain.
- Selected
- Ben Breen, 2026-09-29; suggested by Claude research agents, 29 Sep 2026
- Status
- Arguments unverified; quotations chosen by machine, unchecked
Q33CIVILIZATION
Can a society adopt another society's machinery without adopting its ways of life?No. the machinery comes with the civilization that produced it. Japan cannot take Western technical novelties while keeping its old spirit; it must adopt the spirit of civilization, the independence of the individual and the nation, that produced them.
Monumenta Nipponica monograph page for the Dilworth/Hurst translation; Karolinum journal article on the 1875 text summarizing its rejection of 'Japanese spirit, Western practice'.