Questions About the Worldview︎
Introduction 01/04
In the world we live in today, ideas that have come from the West wield considerable influence.
While the customs, traditions, and ideas that were common in Japan before the Meiji Restoration are gradually disappearing, so-called “Western” customs and ideas imported from abroad are taking root in Japan, and we go about our lives with almost no sense of doubt.
For example, the “university” system itself is a Western concept, and simply belonging to one confers higher social status. But is anyone actually considering what a “university” truly is?
To be honest, I get the feeling that neither those who belong to a “university” nor those who do not really give much thought to whether a “university” actually has enough substance to be recognized as a symbol of social status.
Now, while I myself am part of this “university” system, I have long had reservations about the fact that Western thought has been the mainstream within universities (though, of course, one could argue that this is only natural, given that the “university” itself is based on a Western system).
I’ll admit that Western thought has its admirable aspects. However, having happened to possess even a smidge of knowledge about the “Yin-Yang and Five Elements philosophy” and “Buddhism,” I felt nothing short of outrage that people around me—who didn’t really understand these concepts themselves—were using Western thought as a basis to label religion, paranormal phenomena, and traditional Japanese philosophies as “irrational.”
That is because I myself had always viewed both religion and paranormal phenomena as rational phenomena.
I suppose that’s because I was thinking of the word “rational (or reason)” not as the "Reason in Modern Humanism” but as the “The Laws of the Universe and Nature, Including Non-Human Beings”.
I believe that having a religious faith means discovering a theory (or worldview) different from the one you previously held, and choosing to believe in it.
Isn’t it simply the case that when we cannot believe in the existence of another theory (worldview) that cannot be explained by the theory (worldview) we currently believe in, we call it a “mysterious phenomenon”?
Science is by no means the only “reason.” I believe it is simply one of the many worldviews that exist in the world.
But why has the scientific worldview become so widely accepted in the modern era? Furthermore, why does civilization experience such rapid development through the advancement of science and technology and the adoption of a Western worldview? And why is it that science—which can be treated as an equal to religion—is able to incorporate religion into its own scope of inquiry?
In order to bring even a little clarity to the questions I’ve been pondering over the past few years, the following text will explore various worldviews beyond science.
Examples include animism, shamanism, and magic found in primitive societies; religions centered on so-called “gods”; the philosophy of “Yin-Yang and the Five Elements (Onmyōdō),” which has existed in Japan since ancient times and whose influence remains in various forms despite being little known in detail; and “Buddhism,” which, despite possessing a magnificent theoretical framework, is—like most Western academic disciplines—so lofty that the general public is familiar with only a small fraction of it.
With an understanding of these ideas, let’s consider why so-called “Western thought” and “science” became so deeply ingrained in Japan, and why “science” went on to develop to such an extent.
In each chapter, I have attempted to discover “reason” within a worldview that ordinary people would deem irrational. Before proceeding to this chapter, let me define the concept of “reason,” a term we haven’t used much so far.