Modernity is familiar with the idea of moving toward universality. What awaits you on the way? (Image: Tr1/PIXTA)
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Why do liberals, who are supposed to be working on resolving inequality issues, fall into the trap of “degrowth” arguments that benefit “neoliberalism”? Where will America, the standard-bearer of liberalism, head as its hegemony declines? What kind of balance should there be between globalism and nationalism? “No more neoliberalism and degrowth” has been published recently, with major additions to the “Reiwa New Liberal Arts” series and other topics, and discusses important themes of the 2020s. The authors of the book, Tsuyoshi Nakano (critic), Takeshi Sato (critic and author), Hisashi Shimitsu (professor at Kyushu University Graduate School), and Yuji Furukawa (associate professor at Hokkaido University of Education, Asahikawa), discuss globalization, internationalization, and the United States. We bring you the second part of a roundtable discussion that discussed the rise of national conservatism in developed countries, including (Click here for the first part).
Individuality cannot be established without faith in universality.
Sato：The reason why “modernity” appears to pursue universality is when we focus on the elites who create ideas and discourse, but in fact, the modern era was not the era in which the individuality of each country was established. Mr. Nakano’s points are very interesting. Moreover, it is even more interesting now that it wants to return to universality in the form of globalism.
“No More Neoliberalism and Degrowth” (Click on the book to jump to the Amazon site. Click here for the paper version, here for the electronic version. Click here for the paper version on the Rakuten site, and here for the electronic version)
Is modernity an attempt to deny modernity? It seems like this, but this is not a contradiction or anything. This is because the individuality of modern times was supported by faith in the “universality of reason.”
The Thirty Years’ War in the first half of the 17th century gave rise to a system of sovereign states that guaranteed the individuality of each country. This conflict has made it clear that the conventional order based on the universality of the Catholic faith cannot be maintained, but even so, if individuality is recognized without a common foundation, it will eventually become impossible to resolve the situation. do not have. If we don’t do it right, civilization will collapse.
Therefore, reason was introduced as a more universal common ground. In the words of science historian Stephen Toulmin, it is a trump card that will “enable Catholics and Protestants to have open discussions and come to a shared understanding of the fundamental way things are.” This made it possible to establish individuality, but the more confidence in the universality of reason increases through the development of technology, the more people think that “individuality is no longer necessary.” It is inevitable that modern times, which seemed to have recognized individuality, would return to the pursuit of universality.
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