Uchida Yoshihiko:

A Japanese Civil-Society Economist and Historian of Economic Thought of Postwar Japan

抄録

Abstract: It is very difficult to summarize the thought of Uchida Yoshihiko （1913-1989）, one of the representative intellectuals of postwar Japan, but, we could describe the pursuit of Uchida as a search for a way to foster independent and self-reliant individuals of Japanese citizenship and to realize a fair and flexible society in Japan. He started his pursuit by resisting the authoritarianism prevalent in academic circles and the main left-wing groups of Japanese society. He made strenuous efforts to find signs of Homo economicus in modern Japanese society and enthusiastically advocated the ac-ademic and educational need of cultivating the spirit of developing and fostering democratic system, while believing in the civilizing influence of capital: “Everything old and outdated will be thoroughly recast and rebuilt according to the requirement of capital,” he argued, believing this to be an inevitable result of the advancement of economic law and the development of productivity. We can see key ideas underlying his lifelong works in his contribution to Daigaku Shinbun （University Papers） of November 1945, “Newspapers and Democracy”: “The nature of decision forming of a democratic society . . . should be seen in such a society where the people themselves obtain and activate huge, multiple social perspectives by exchanging and carefully examining the ideas expressed by the people of various positions who responsibly see and think for themselves.” Thus, his aim was to actualize an antiauthoritarian and enlightened idea of our society. JEL classification numbers: B 12, B 14, B 41.