Nationalism, Religion, and Social Darwinism: Nation and Religion in the Works of Katō Genchi and Liang Qichao

Why does nationalism require religion? This article explores an answer to this question within discourses of Social Darwinism that gained in popularity globally from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth centuries. Social Darwinism conceived of international relations as the struggle for existe...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Masayoshi, Sumika (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Japanese Association for Religious Studies 2016
In: Religious studies in Japan
Year: 2016, Volume: 3, Pages: 21-39
Further subjects:B Social Darwinism
B Nationalism
B Katō Genchi
B Liang Qichao
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
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Summary:Why does nationalism require religion? This article explores an answer to this question within discourses of Social Darwinism that gained in popularity globally from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth centuries. Social Darwinism conceived of international relations as the struggle for existence among societies or states as social organisms. In order to form a competitive state, it argued, the solid integration of the nation is necessary. Social Darwinism also called upon religion for this objective. Therefore, the integration of a society or a state requires people to share common values, and it was claimed that religion could play an important role in realizing social cohesion. This study attempts to show that an example of such an argument can be found in Katō Genchi’s theory of religion that advocated Statist Shinto in Japan. The author also argues that the same case was made by Liang Qichao in his religious thought during the late Qing and early republican periods in China.
ISSN:2186-9952
Contains:Enthalten in: Religious studies in Japan