■Topics 2018
2018-04-17 NichibunkenNews
Evening Seminar (April 5, 2018) “The Enlightenment of Scientific Knowledge in Early Meiji: Fukuzawa Yukichi (1835-1901)”
“The Enlightenment of Scientific Knowledge in Early Meiji: Fukuzawa Yukichi (1835-1901),” Hassan Kamal Harb (associate professor at Cairo University and visiting research scholar at Nichibunken)Focusing on the Kinmō kyūri zukai (Illustrated Book of Physical Sciences) published by Fukuzawa Yukichi in 1868, Harb compared the work with others on science written by Japanese intellectuals of his time and also studied in detail its relation to the illustrated Western science books that were his sources. He drew special attention to Fukuzawa’s progressive and original idea, initiated early on in post-Meiji Restoration society, of spreading new Western scientific knowledge to commoners, including women and children. He also introduced the fascinating historical coincidence that an Egyptian thinker contemporaneous with Fukuzawa named Muhammad Abduh (1849-1905) had tried to disseminate modern scientific knowledge along with the teachings of the Koran in his own country.
(Reported by Shiraishi Eri, assistant professor, Office of Digital Resources, Publications, and Public Information)
