The federalist papers of Ueki Emori: liberalism and empire in the Japanese enlightenment

Abstract

ABSTRACTUeki Emori (1857–1892), a prominent thinker and activist in the Japanese enlightenment of the late nineteenth century, denounced imperialism as a form of ‘greater barbarism’ and large-scale slavery and called for the unification of all nations in a global federation that would end empire-building and allow maximal individual freedom. Yet he also endorsed Japanese aggression and colonialism abroad. This paper examines the epistemological and ontological foundations of Ueki’s thought to argue that his worldview emerged from a radical liberalism that held the autonomous subjective self as sacrosanct but that easily mobilized behind nationalist and racialist culturalism. The paper thus suggests that the liberalist construction of the modern Japanese self occurred in reciprocally reinforcing dialogue with the construction of global empire, and it reflects on the problem of global knowing and individual being after the collapse of Japanese early modernity.