Mimansa Chapter Of Bhavyas Madhyamaka Hrdaya Karika

Author(s): Shinjo Kawasaki
Publisher: Shinjo Kawasaki

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Some Problems of John Dewey's Theory of History
Hideyo YAMADA
The writer tries to analyse Dewey's theory of history under the following four aspects: 1. temporal and spacial phases of existence (text: "Logic-The Theory of Inquiry", Chap.
XII.), 2. self-objectification of human existence (text: "Experience and Nature", Chap. III.), 3. nature and history (text: same as above), 4. history and individuality (text: Dewey's article, 'Time and Individuality').
And the writer's main aim is to show that Dewey's theory of history is to be understood to have the following four features:
1. he employs a pluralistic and indeterminate theory of history instead of the monistic his.
torical theory of developmental stages, 2. the agent of historical development is not nations as in Hegel, but the individual who
is existentially free and the story of whose development means history in itself, 3. his theory may be called an evolution theory of history, and furthermore it might be,
probably, said to have the nuances of an Existentialist theory, and finally, 4. some criticisms of Dewey that have been presented to assume that he has a pragmatic
view of history seem not to be entirely correct, because his problem is not confined to why we learn history but is chiefly concerned with the ontological structure of history itself.
Plato's Magnesian State: an interpretation of the Laws
Mie IKEDA
• The Laws is not an appendix to Plato's thinking, but the culmination of his entire philosophy, especially his philosophy of state, of education, of morals and of religion. It is not an imaginative theory of a failed politician, but a practical program of social reform by a philosopher whose eyes penetrated deeply the morbidity of his time. Historical Greek city-states have disappeared, but his criticism of Athenian democracy and his principles of the reconstruction of the state are still of much importance even to us Japanese. His problems are our prob. lems. Was Plato, as a true disciple of Socrates, a defender of political freedom, and was his perennial attack on democracy his desperate endeavour to save freedom from utter ruin, or was he, as some critics say, an enemy of democracy, and did he sacrifice freedom to the altar of morals and state? Concerning his political philosophy very few of his interpreters are impartial. They are either passionately favourable to him or passionately hostile to him. In this article I tried as much as I can to let Plato speak for himself. I examined in detail his proposals of administrative and judicial reforms, what elaborate devices he made to protect his state against the unbridled sovereignty of the people on the one hand, and against the abuse by the magistrates of their executive and judicial powers on the other the procedures of election, the scrutiny and the audit, the reciprocal check of the magistrates, the functions of the guardians of the laws and the nocturnal council.
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