Rinrigaku: Ethics in Japan

This work is a partial translation of Watsuji’s major systematic work, Ethics originally published in three volumes, in 1937, 1942, and 1949. The original work comprises an introduction and four chapters, and the translation presents the Introduction as Part 1, “Introductory Essays”; chapter 1 as Part 2, “The Fundamental Structure of Human Existence”; and chapter 2 as Part 3, “The Spatio-Temporal Structure of Human Being.” Chapters 3 and 4 in the original work, which are left untranslated, are titled respectively “Ethical Organizations” and “Historico-Climate Structure of Human Existence.” According to the systemic plan of Watsuji, ethics, which is practically identical with the whole of philosophy, should not be limited to the consideration of the principles of morality, but should contain the investigation of various human communities, and reflection on the historical movements in which these communities have been formed. In other words, ethics should also contain social philosophy and the philosophy of history.