National moral education: Abe Isō's Views on Education

Abe Isō, one of the most eminent intellectuals of the Meiji era (1868–1912) and a professor at Tokyo Senmon Gakkō (the present Waseda University), believed in a liberal approach to education and opposed the trend towards state-oriented education and the egocentric approach that superseded it. His views are important to an understanding of educational issues during this pivotal period but have been largely ignored by those who have studied the legacies of his vast and diverse intellectual output. This paper studies his views on education, and in particular, his response to tokuiku (the national moral teaching).