Hiroto Saegusa

A materialist thinker and pioneer in the study of the history of technology. Doctor of Literature. Born in 1892 at a Shinshu temple in Honji Village, Hiroshima Prefecture (now Honji, Kitahiroshima Town), near the Chugoku Mountains. After graduating from the Fifth Senior High School in Kumamoto, he graduated from the Department of Western Philosophy at Tokyo Imperial University in 1922 (Taisho 11). He aspired to pursue religious rationality and was interested in epistemology and phenomenology, but his experience in the military while at university and his research into Dilthey motivated him to gradually turn his attention to social sciences. While teaching at Toyo University, Rissho University, and Hosei University, he wrote "Hegel: The Science of Logic" and "Dialectics of Capital." In 1932 (Showa 7), he organized the Materialism Study Group together with Tosaka Jun and Oka Kunio (1890-1971), and through their journal, "Materialist Studies," they presented materialistic interpretations of Kant and Hegel, as well as scientific criticism of the reactionary theory of "Japanese philosophy." As militarism progressed, he was subjected to ideological oppression and resigned from his teaching position, devoting himself to writing that empirically uncovered areas of Japanese intellect and sensibility, as well as historical issues of science and technology, in the context of a comparison of Eastern and Western thought. He compiled basic historical materials such as "The Encyclopedia of Japanese Philosophy" (later known as "The Encyclopedia of Japanese Philosophical Thought") and "The Encyclopedia of Japanese Classics of Science," and published pioneering works such as "History of Technology" and "The Philosophy of Miura Baien," in which he criticized fanatical Japanese spiritualism. After the Second World War, with an even more mature academic style, he continued to write enlightening and highly contemporary works such as "The Philosophy of Technology," "Japanese Materialists," and "Research on Westernized Japan." At the same time, he served as president of the Kamakura Academia, president of Yokohama City University, and president of the Japanese Society for the History of Science, and together with young researchers, he published works such as "The History of the Development of Modern Steelmaking Technology in Japan" and "The History of the Development of Mining Technology in Japan Before the Meiji Era", but he died suddenly in the JNR Tsurumi accident on November 9, 1963. His posthumous works include "De re Metallica, Complete Translation and Research" (1968) and "The Philosophy of Science" (1973).

[Kenichi Iida September 16, 2016]

"Riverside Stones - Hirone Saegusa, the Person and Thought" edited by Kenichi Iida (1969, Shimizu Kobundo Shobo)" ▽ "The Collected Works of Hirone Saegusa, Vol. 12 and Supplementary Volume 1 (1972-1977, Chuokoron-Shinsha)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

唯物論的思想家、技術史研究の開拓者。文学博士。明治25年、中国山地に近い広島県本地村（現、北広島(きたひろしま)町本地）の真宗の寺院に生まれる。熊本の五高を経て1922年（大正11）東京帝国大学西洋哲学科卒業。宗教的合理性の追究を志し、認識論や現象学に関心を寄せたが、在学中の軍隊経験やディルタイ研究などが動機となって、しだいに社会科学に目を向けるようになった。東洋、立正、法政各大学などで教鞭(きょうべん)をとるかたわら、『ヘーゲル・論理の科学』『資本論の弁証法』を著し、1932年（昭和7）には戸坂潤、岡邦雄(おかくにお)（1890―1971）らと唯物論研究会を組織、機関誌『唯物論研究』などを通じ、カント、ヘーゲルの唯物論的解釈のほか、反動的な「日本哲学」説への科学的批判を展開した。軍国主義化が進むと思想的弾圧を受けて教職を辞し、未開拓の領域であった日本人の知性と感性、また科学と技術の歴史的諸問題を、東西思想の比較の場において実証的に掘り起こす著述活動に専念、『日本哲学全書』（後の『日本哲学思想全書』）や『日本科学古典全書』などの基本史料の集大成を行い、『技術史』『三浦梅園の哲学』など開拓的労作を世に問うて、狂信的な日本精神論を批判した。第二次世界大戦後は、いっそう円熟した学風のもとに『技術の哲学』『日本の唯物論者』『西欧化日本の研究』など、啓蒙(けいもう)的でかつきわめて今日性に富む著述活動を展開した。同時に鎌倉アカデミア校長、横浜市立大学の学長や日本科学史学会長などを歴任、若い研究者とともに『日本近代製鉄技術発達史』『明治前日本鉱業技術発達史』などを公刊したが、昭和38年11月9日国鉄鶴見(つるみ)事故にあって急逝した。遺著に『デ・レ・メタリカ、全訳とその研究』（1968）、『科学の哲学』（1973）などがある。

［飯田賢一　2016年9月16日］

『飯田賢一編『河原の石――三枝博音・その人と思想』（1969・清水弘文堂書房）』▽『『三枝博音著作集』12巻・別巻1（1972～1977・中央公論社）』

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