Sorai Studies

Japanese: 徂徠学 - そらいがく

Confucianism advocated by the Confucian scholar Ogyū Sorai (1666-1728) in the mid-Edo period. Its contents are described in Sorai's major works, such as Gakusoku, Bendo, Benmei, and Sorai Sensei Tomonsho. Before Sorai, the most influential Confucianism was Neo-Confucianism, which Sorai also studied initially, but in his mid-40s, around 1710 (7th year of the Hoei era), he began to have doubts about Neo-Confucianism on two points. Neo-Confucianism teaches that it is the duty of humans to perfect their character by cultivating morality. Sorai's first question was whether a non-political ideology such as Neo-Confucianism, which so strongly preaches morality and believes that observing morality is enough, could be used to deal with the political crisis of the time, given that the feudal domain system had begun to show signs of impasse from the beginning of the 18th century; his second question was whether Neo-Confucianism, which preaches morality too strictly, might suppress the naturalness of human feelings.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

江戸中期の儒者荻生徂徠(1666‐1728)が唱えた儒学思想。その内容は徂徠の主著《学則》《弁道》《弁名》《徂徠先生答問書》などに述べられる。徂徠以前にもっとも勢力のあった儒学思想は朱子学であって，徂徠もはじめは朱子学を学んだが，40代の中ごろ，1710年(宝永7)ころから朱子学に二つの点で疑問を抱くようになった。朱子学では，道徳の修養を積んで人格を完成させるのが人間のつとめであると教える。徂徠の疑問の第1は，あたかも18世紀の初頭から幕藩体制は行きづまりの兆候を見せはじめていたが，道徳をしきりに説き，道徳を守りさえすれば事足れりとする朱子学のような非政治的な思想をもって，当代の政治的危機に対処できるだろうかということであり，第2は，あまりにも厳格に道徳を説く朱子学は人情の自然を抑圧するのではないだろうかということである。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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