2　スピリチュアリティと平和――南原繁『国家と宗教』から公共哲学へ

抄録

Peace has two aspects; one is in human internal tranquility, and the other is in outer world or national security. Many people believe that, concerning with religious spirituality and peace, the internal is more essential than the outer. But does that belief truly reflect the real human situation?

We sometimes need strong desire,courage,will and decision in securing peace even in the outer world. Desire, courage, will and decision are also “spiritual” functions.On the other hand, “Yamato Damashii”, Japanese soul, Piety to ancestor, Royalty to eternal Emperor etc, popularly spread words during the Pacific War, were peculiar expressions of the national spirit or “Volksgeist.”

“Spirituality” can guide the nation to go into the direction of either peace or war. “Spirituality” can act in soteriological religion and in state religion.

In this article, I consider Shigeru Nambara’s State and Religion (1942) from the view point of “spirituality and peace.” This book is an excellent material to contemplate what is going in view of the recent debates in Japan that focus on spirituality, religion, patriotism and peace. My approach is based on recent developments of the Public Philosophy in Japan.

Nambara uses the Neo-Kantian epistemology in his political philosophy, in which a method called “value parallelism” plays an essential role. Although it is a fascinating unique idea,there are some ambiguous points in his arguments. First, “value” is a counter part of “fact” in a framework of the typical dualism of Neo-Kantian approach. Second, this method does not distinguish between the level of epistemology and the level of social institution. Third,the status of civil society is not well-defined compared with the status of the state. Instead of “value parallelism”, I will propose a method of “meaning parallelism” that makes it possible to construct a social reality with the inclusion of spiritual activities in our public life.