Miura Baien
Encyclopedia
was a Japanese
philosopher of the Tokugawa era
. A scholar often qualified as prolific original thinker in economy, interested in epistemology, he studied nature in a methodical way.
(at that time named Bungo) on the island of Kyūshū
, he became himself a physician and declined invitations to take office in the service of a local feudal lord. A master of Chinese language and poetry, he later became an advocate of a new rationalism
.
Japanese people
The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...
philosopher of the Tokugawa era
Edo period
The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....
. A scholar often qualified as prolific original thinker in economy, interested in epistemology, he studied nature in a methodical way.
Life
Born as Miura Susumu into the family of a village physician in the present Ōita PrefectureOita Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan on Kyūshū Island. The prefectural capital is the city of Ōita.- History :Around the 6th century Kyushu consisted of four regions: Tsukushi-no-kuni 筑紫国, Hi-no-kuni 肥国, and Toyo no kuni...
(at that time named Bungo) on the island of Kyūshū
Kyushu
is the third largest island of Japan and most southwesterly of its four main islands. Its alternate ancient names include , , and . The historical regional name is referred to Kyushu and its surrounding islands....
, he became himself a physician and declined invitations to take office in the service of a local feudal lord. A master of Chinese language and poetry, he later became an advocate of a new rationalism
Rationalism
In epistemology and in its modern sense, rationalism is "any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or justification" . In more technical terms, it is a method or a theory "in which the criterion of the truth is not sensory but intellectual and deductive"...
.
Key works
- Baien's Three "Go (words)"
- Gengo (lit. Abstruse Talk), freely translated as Discourse on Methaphysics
- Zeigo (lit. Talking On and On), freely translated as Discourse on Corollaries
- Kango (lit. Presumtuous Talk), freely translated as Discourse on Morality
- Heigo Fūji (lit. Confidential Matters on the Year Hinoe), 1786, a treatise on political, economic, military and legal affairs
- Kagen (lit. The Origin of Price)
- Logical Model of Earth Ecosystem
- collection of his work in Baien Shiryōshū (1989, Perikansha publication)
External links
- picture of the Miura Baien Historical Museum in the Oita prefecture opened in October 2000
- Miura Baien, 1723-1789, and His Dialectic & Political Ideas, by Gino K. Piovesana � 1965, Monumenta Nipponica, Vol. 20, No. 3/4 (1965), pp. 389–421
- "Logical Model of Earth Ecosystem" by Baien Miura by Tatsuya Kitabayashi, 2004
- Concerning Baien Miura and 'Reply to Taga' by Tatsuya Kitabayashi
- Philosophic projections, The Mathematical Intelligencer, Volume 30, Number 3 / September, 2008
- Miura Baien's Ethical Thought, in Annals of ethics
- blog post Aki / ?? by Joel Swagman featuring pictures of Miura Baien's house, dedicated museum, and grave, 2009
- A Study on the Diagrams by Baien Miura and Sontoku Ninomiya, Ritsuko Izuhara, 2001