Economic and Social Changes: Facts, Trends, Forecast 12 (5) 192 - 210 2307-0331 2019 [Refereed][Not invited]
Presently, in Japanese politics, the majority of people opt to vote for conservative parties, with anti-conservatives and old liberals losing power and representation in the government. This study explores the emerging middle-class who may potentially lead to an alternative liberal politics in Japan. Using responses to an Internet survey conducted in 2018 as our data, we articulate features of a new liberal class by constructing a theory of class articulation and combining that theory with latent class analysis to compare the new liberals to old liberals and conservatives. This is the first attempt to apply latent class analysis to figure out differences in political orientations among possible social classes. We analyze some personality traits of the new liberals using our original 18 personality categories. We also analyze their social attitudes by comparing their questionnaire responses to those of old liberals. Although our analysis shows that new liberals are not experiencing upward social mobility, their personalities as defined by our study constitute a new political class, that is particularly sensitive to the environmental issues, and prefer the nature and minimal consumption. We discovered that these new liberals are in their sixties, graduates of university or graduate school, professionals, and low-income people. We have also discovered that although these new liberals are a coherent political class, they have no representations in our political party system. However, further research based on mail survey especially for elderly people should be conducted in order to conceive more precise features of new liberals.
『千葉大学法学論集』第29巻第1・2号 宮崎隆次先生・嶋津格先生 退職記念号Hogaku Ronshu(Chiba Journal of Law and Politics) Vol.29 No.1・2 Essays in Honor of Professors Ryuji Miyazaki and Itaru Shimazu at their Retirement from Chiba University
日本の経済哲学を創立した左右田喜一郎(1881-1927)の初期と晩年の思索について,その学問的意義を再考する。左右田は博士論文Geld und Wert (1909),および,著作Die logische Natur der Wirtschaftsgesetze (1911)によって,弱冠三〇歳にて独自の経済哲学を確立すると,その後は日本において,文化哲学の新たな地平を築いていった。若き左右田にとって,銀行業における不換紙幣制度の確立は,近代社会の偉業となるべき歴史的課題であると同時に,彼の独創的な理論の隠れた中核でもあった。まずこの点を理論的に明らかにする。しかし左右田喜一郎は,実業家としては父から受け継いだ左右田銀行を倒産に追い込み,理論とは裏腹に現実の辛酸をなめている。左右田は惜しくも四七歳にて夭折するが,晩年の左右田は,西田幾太郎の哲学と向き合うことによって,自身の哲学的立場を練り上げようとしていた。本稿では絶筆となった論文「西田哲学の方法について」を読み解くことで,死と向き合う左右田の「理性と尊厳」を省察する。
The Quarterly of Legal Philosophy THE JAPAN ASSOCIATION OF LEGAL PHILOSOPHY 2004 18 - 29,205 0387-2890 2005 [Not refereed][Not invited]
To what extent the libertarian defense of the self-ownership is valid? In this paper, I would examine Prof. Morimura's original theory on the justification of self-ownership which can be called as "physiological-intuitional defense of libertarianism." A paradigmatic example which supports the theory is a lottery of eyeball: a public lottery in which every ordinary person is forced to participate and some elected. are asked to transplant his or her pair of eyeballs to the blind persons. Libertarians would not agree this lottery run by the government since physiologically imagined pain would be a good reason to deny it in the light of property rights for our own body parts. However, what about a lottery which transplants cornea under the condition of negligible pain and negligible deterioration of the eyesight? Some people would agree to join this lottery and the government could run it under the condition where people have a right not to take part in. This kind of lottery of transplantation shows how our physiological sense of self-ownership is ambiguous. The sense of the self-ownership of our body depends how we focus on its body parts. In addition, even if we could justify our body-ownership as a basis of our self-ownership, the degree of its justificatory power for our labor and products would not be the same. The question is to what degree a fundamentalist method of developing a systematic logic for self-ownership would be valid. I raise some alternative ways for the justification of private property rights system from a point of a Hayekian growth-oriented liberalism. Especially, I would examine a boundary problem of self-enslaving contract and a problem of "a pleasure of ownership" as a basis of private property rights system.
Alfred Schütz's masterpiece, "Der sinnhafte Aufbau der sozialen Welt" (1932) has been interpreted as a foundation of phenomenological Sociology. But I insist that Schutz's aim was rather to give a fast foundation for Austrian Economics. In this paper, first I try to reconstruct how he justified the Austrian Economics in the problem situation at that time. Especially I pay my attention to the relation of Schutz and his teacher Mises. Second, I compare Schutz to Hayek on methodology and disclose methodological problems of Schutz. Third, I present the other criticisms to his methodology and conclude that his methodology fails to be a fast foundation for Austrian Economics. The main reason is his ambiguity when he discusses the adjustment of subject and object. But as a whole his failure lies in his eclectic attitude.
書評Hidenobu Kojima, Political and Economic Thoughts of Market and Communality (Shijo to Kyodosei no Seiji Keizai Shiso, in Japanese), Kyoto: Minerva Shobo, 2022, 367pp.
Tsutomu, Hashimoto 『経済学史研究(The History of Economic Thought)』 65- (1) 96 -98 2023/07
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science:Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
Date (from‐to) : 2017/04 -2021/03
Author : NOZAKI Akiko
This study aims to construct a normative theory of justice that calls into question how collective decision making ought to be conducted. After advancing individual studies including unique reports at international conferences, a workshop on the same topic as this study was held at an international conference(SW 78 Collective Decision Making in a Theory of Justice at IVR World Congress 2019). Building on those discussions, I show that the freedom of diverse individuals and the maintenance of a level of collectivity/group cohesion can each serve as a foundation for the other and that they perform complementary functions. More specifically, it has been established that this topic connects the theory of freedom underlying the social welfare state, liberal nationalism, expertise and liberalism.
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science:Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
Date (from‐to) : 2017/04 -2020/03
Author : Ikegaki Kotoe
In this study, we set a theme that has not studied so far, "Civil society and consumers," and were able to organize and summarize discussions from various fields based on the following two issues.
The first issue is "Civil society theory in economic thought and theory." We have organized the discussion to discover the significance of consumer autonomy and consumption required in the society of mass production and mass consumption from economic thought and consumer society theory.
The second issue is "Construction of the spiritual history of the consumer movement." We have organized discussions on the construction of alternative production/consumption/distribution relationships such as consumer civic groups' activities and production-consumption partnerships.
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science:Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
Date (from‐to) : 2016/04 -2020/03
Author : Komine Atsushi
Can the dissemination of economics decrease international conflicts? After four-year research, we come to conclude that yes it can, yet there are two important reservations. First, we must not forget the possibility of economics that leads to promoting international conflicts because of penetrating typical economic ideas into the all over the world. Second, we must not forget to doubt a twofold accepted idea both inside and outside economics, that is, ‘free trade leads to international peace’, and ‘peace or war is a given condition regardless of economics’. Now, it is necessary to carefully examine by what conditions economics can contribute peace by considering history of economic thought. A two competing factors regarding economics is, first, to think about more efficient use of limited resources by both quantitative and qualitative criteria (value and price), second, based on core of economic thinking, to have numerous ideas to bridge other disciples.
The purpose of our research is to construct a new philosophical foundation of ‘global legisprudence’ by developing and integrating the theoretical resources of legisprudence and global justice. We revealed that the conventional theories of legisprudence which almost exclusively focused on domestic legislation could not appropriately deal with the problems that domestic legislation and global order formation interacted with each other. Then we presented some guides for division of labor between domestic legislation and global law-making, and explored how to guarantee democratic accountability of both. Thereby we built a philosophical foundation of global legisprudence.
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science:Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
Date (from‐to) : 2014/04 -2017/03
Author : NOZAKI Akiko, Lütge Christoph
This study considered the possibility of a social theory that assumes the existence of non-autonomous individuals who are not the autonomous individuals supposed by liberalism, as the group growing in size within a risk society. The study focuses on risk with an unknown occurrence ratio. For this study, we examined the principles of justice used by Global Justice and Bioethics; Belmont Report and rules on research of reproductive cells that will impact future generations. Based on an examination of these actual issues, the study also explored the possibility and theory of rules through the systematic framework provided by Libertarian Paternalism. In designing a system for risk amidst a risk society premised upon rational, autonomous human beings and irrational, non-autonomous human beings, the study inquired into the possibility of structuring a best-matching theory to logically support its rules.
In our next stage, we should focus on collectivity and gregariousness.
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science:Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
Date (from‐to) : 2014/04 -2017/03
Author : Hashimoto Tsutomu
The idea of neo-liberalism took its new form especially in Northern Europe and show new developments on its thought and policy. We explored the idea of this new type of liberal economic thought and its potentialities. On the other hand, many of original criticisms against neoliberalism have been made in French literatures. With reference to such criticism, we explored some possible forms of new liberalism. For example we examined Amartya Sen’s contribution of capacity approach and Sun Stein’s "Libertarian-Paternalism" in modern economic thought.
Our research developed, both thematically and methodologically, the project of the new theoretical movement of ‘legisprudence’, which has come to the fore in the world of international legal philosophy in the past few years. We investigated deeply into the new urgent problems of our legislative system, which is now undergoing a profound change owing to the structural transformations of the Japanese political practice. We showed that the conventional legislation-studies focused on the routine process and techniques of bill-formation and the specific legislative policies cannot meet the challenges posed by these problems of structural change. Two advocate a more promising alternative, we developed the theoretical resources of ‘legisprudence’ and presented some philosophical guides for a normative conception of the comprehensive legislative system design, thereby building the ‘legisprudential’ foundation of the legislative system reform.
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science:Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
Date (from‐to) : 2011 -2014
Author : HASHIMOTO Tsutomu
This project developed studies on philosophical foundations on “ecology” driven capitalism based on recent arguments on economic thought, especially on arguments of naturalism and developmentalism. Such policies as protecting environment can become a driving force of capitalism and produce more employment at the same time. To promote the protection of the environment and the capital accumulation, what kind of policy the government can pursue? I described a new vision and proposed some ideas on policy making.
This research developed the study of legislation which is still in a germinal stage in Japan. We reconstructed it by combining it with the new theoretical movement of'legisprudence' which appears in the world of international legal philosophy these days. Our research elucidated the basic conditions for the effectiveness and legitimacy of the entire system of government which produces, reevaluates and revises law. Thereby it indicated the direction in which we can contribute to the qualitative improvement of legislation as a whole and protection of its democratic legitimacy based on the functional analysis and normative evaluation of the entire process of legislation.
Our research aimed to reconstruct philosophy of law as public philosophy by investigating comprehensively into the philosophical basis and normative implications of the concept of publicness. It was focused on the three tasks : (1)assessing the comparative merits and demerits of the competing conceptions of publicness, and constructing a unifying theory that can adequately accommodate their tensions and turn them into fruitful complementarities ; (2)presenting new approaches to the traditional issues about the concept of law by exploring into the internal connection between the concept of law and that of publicness ; and (3)elucidating the mediating role of positive law and its institutional structure in turning the ideal theory of publicness into reality under non-ideal conditions. Our results are as follows
Task (1) : We have found the following conclusions warranted. First, the competing traditional conceptions of publicness can be adequately characterized and contrasted by classifying them into the three models : sphere-based theory, agent-based theory and process-based theory. Second, the traditional three models are inadequate to get over the legitimacy-crisis in contemporary pluralistic societies. Third, the new fourth model, reason-based theory that we constructed as an alternative to the traditional models can work as a unifying theory that overcomes their limits and defects and rescues their complementary merits by articulating the underlying principle that they need as their normative ground and constraint.
Task (2) : We have shown that the conceptual distinction between the first-order and second-order publicness and the related one between publicness in law and publicness of law implied by reason-based theory give us the best theoretical vantage point from which we can elucidate the internal connections between law and publicness and identify the crucial normative issues neglected in the conceptual analyses and debates about the nature of law. To exemplify this point, we discussed the issues of duty to obey law, revolutionary creation of law, limits of law and others
Task (3) : We have reached the conclusion that positive law can effectively sustain and develop the public order of contemporary societies only if two conditions are met. First, to enhance the publicness in law, both legal interpretation and legislation must be informed and guided by a more principled deliberation on substantive and specific public values (the first-order publicness) than it is now the case. Second, to secure publicness of law, the institutional structure for legal decision making must be designed not just with the view of improving its quality in terms of the first-order publicness but also with full consideration for the second-order publicness. We have realized that legisprudence (the theory of legislation), now emerging in contemporary legal philosophy, can play an indispensable role in finding effective ways to meet these conditions and that we have to organize a new joint research in legisprudence to develop the present one
Part of the results of our research was presented in international settings. Inoue published two papers in internationally coauthored books as shown in the References below. Inoue and Takikawa presented their papers at the World Congress of the international association of Legal and Social Philosophy (IVR) held at Granada in 2005. Takikawa's paper was published in the proceedings of this conference, and Inoue's paper is to appear in a new book edited by Luc Wintgens now in preparation for publication. Domestically, a book that is comprised of the contributions by all the investigators and collaborators for our project is forthcoming from Nakanishiya Shuppan
(1) The research into the development of the Austrian school of economics: From its emergence to its present state
This is the first research in Japan, which treats with the development of the Austrian school of economics from its emergence to the present state. In this research, Austrian economics, which so far has been explored and evaluated only partially, is placed within economics, and its significance is evaluated.
(2) The evaluation of economists in the Austrian tradition
In this research, firstly Menger, Bohm-Bawerk, and Hayek are evaluated. As well as this, Mises, Morgenstern, Israel Kirzner and Roger Garrison who represent neo-Austrian economists today are picked up and evaluated. As the result of this, we can distinguish what is called "the Austrian school" as a whole.
(3) The research on the characteristic features of Austrian economics
In this research, through the intensive studies of such themes as "methodology in economics", "economic calculation", "knowledge problem", "market process", and "entrepreneurship", we can explore the characteristic features of Austrian economics. In the fields of "finance and banking", "trade-cycle theory", and "liberalism", we can make comparisons between the Austrian approach and neoclassicism, and also the, former and Keynesianism. What is more, by considering "game theory", we can demonstrate that the origin of the ideas of "interdependence of individual decisions" and "asymmetric information" can be found in the Austrian tradition.
(4) Publication of the research results
The results of this research will be published in a book titled " Austrian economics", which is edited by Okon and Hashimoto, from Nihon Keizai Hyoron-Sya Inc. this year.
本年度は、九月に単著の著作として『社会科学の人間学-自由主義のプロジェクト』を勁草書房から出版し、研究成果を世に問うことができた。本書は、自由主義の観点から社会制度構想およびその人格理念について論究したものである。次に、学会では、10月における経済学史学大会において、「ハイエクの進化論に関する考察」を報告した。これは同大会における「進化論」のテーマ・セッションの中で、マーシャル、ヴェブレンにつづく第三報告として位置づけられた。その内容は、従来のハイエク研究における進化論の意義を批判しつつ、新たに「洗練された自生化主義」という観点からハイエクを解釈し再構成したものである。論文としては、「ジョージ・ソロス-開かれた社会への戦略」『インターコミュニケーション』NTT出版、1999.11,2000 winter号.を発表した。また、近刊として、尾近裕幸(国学院大学)との共編著『オーストリア学派の経済学』を予定しており、この本に所収されるいくつかの論文を執筆した。すなわち「ミーゼス」「市場プロセス」「方法論」「知識論」という四つの論文を手がけた。この他、終章にあたる論文「オーストリア学派とは何か」を現在執筆中である。さらに英文論文として、"The Purpose and Significance of the Methodology of the Social Sciences in the Age of Post-Scientism",in Economic Journal of Hokkaido University,vol29,2000.7.(forthcoming).を執筆した。