Fukuzawa Yukichi · Politics

Civilization and Its Progress

Fukuzawa&rsquo;s most sustained theoretical work, <em>An Outline of a Theory of Civilization</em> (1875): civilization as the advance of a whole people&rsquo;s knowledge and virtue, its stages from savage to half-civilized to civilized, and why Japan had to press forward to secure its independence.

What you'll be able to recall

You learned that in An Outline of a Theory of Civilization Fukuzawa defined civilization as the progress of a people&rsquo;s knowledge and virtue, ranked nations as savage, half-civilized, or civilized, treated these as relative stages rather than fixed natures, and argued Japan must advance to keep its independence.…

Leads to Francois Guizot.

Begin this lesson →
← All lessons on Fukuzawa Yukichi

epoché — a humanities education that remembers you.