MILL, John Stuart; AMANE, Nishi (trans.).

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Rigaku (Utilitarianism). First edition in Japanese of Mill's classic exposition of his philosophy, as translated by his primary champion in Japan.Following the Meiji Restoration and the end of Japanese isolationism, the new government sponsored the translation of many Occidental texts as tools for understanding Western geopolitical superiority. Many of those engaged in this programme took 19th-century England - rather than 18th-century France - as their model for a fully enlightened state. Millian utilitarianism, moreover, with its ultimate emphasis on the collective interests of society was seen to be more directly palatable to minds trained on Confucianism than French offerings from the Age of Enlightenment. This translation was undertaken by Nishi Amane (1829-1897), a philosopher then teaching at Kaieisho College in Tokyo.

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