This paper amis to bring to light modern connotations of "Shingaku" proposed by Ishida Baigan in the Tokugawa period by comparing him with Adam Smith, one of the forerunners of modern economic thought.
By the late 17th century, the prosperity and economic growth of Japan in the Edo period had begun to cause unforeseen changes in the social order. At that time, The ch?nin, who were, in theory, thought to be at the bottom of hierarchy (shin?k?sh?, samurai-farmers-craftsmen-merchants, with the ch?nin referred to the two latter groups), flourished socially and economically at the expense of the daimyo and the samurai, who were eager to trade rice (the principal source of domainal income) for cash and consumer goods. Mass-market innovations went further to challenge the social hierarchy. Despite their importance, outside Japan, the ch?nin are considered not as much familiar as a popular notion of samurai.
Ishida Baigan (1685~1744) was a Japanese lecturer and philosopher who founded the Shingaku movement (heart learning) which advocated all education including teachings in ethics and morality. From today"s perspective, his life and works have been summarized in terms of advocating a Confucian idea that a man who cannot control his household cannot control his nation. This idea helped motivate many Japanese reformers to fight for Japanese feminists, and human and people"s rights.
Adam Smith, on the other hand, was a Scottish moral philosopher and a pioneer of political economics. He has been also thought to be one of the key figures of the Scottish Enlightenment. Smith critically examined the moral thinking in his time, and suggested that conscience arose from social relationships. His goal in writing his work was to explain the source of mankind"s ability to form moral judgements, in spite of man"s natural inclinations towards self-interest. Smith proposed a theory of sympathy, in which the act of observing others makes people aware of themselves and the morality of their own behavior.
In conclusion, we can say that Adam Smith proposed his economic and moral thoughts in the direction towards the modern capitalist world. However, in case of Baigan, he suggested the economic activities which were defeudalized or capitalist, suggesting some new ethics of the business men. Yet, there were not any criticisms against feudal powers or new suggestions for liberal trades. Therefore, Shingaku of Baigan would suggest some ideas far from feudal ones, but its limit lie on the point that it is fundamentlally based on the feudal system.