Résumé Yanagita Kunio (1875-1962), un des plus représentatifs folkloristes japonais, considère les différents aspects d’une forêt comme un ensemble composite qui comprend les coutumes, légendes et modes de vie des habitants. Le regard de Yanagita est un regard proche, qui souhaite comprendre comment la forêt se rapporte à la vie et aux coutumes de la population qui y habite. Une attitude qui pourrait être celle d’une « compréhension de l’intérieur ». Face à la complexité de la question écologique de la (...) terre, Yanagita suggère d’adopter cette même attitude. (shrink)

Is, or has, democracy a universal value? This is the main question raised by this paper, which distinguishes between two aspects of democracy: political institution in opposition to despotism, and political belief against any kind of slavery and subordination. The role played by intellectuals in the development of contemporary democracy, and the relation of democracy to mass culture and the influence of mass media on a true democratic attitude, are studied within the frame of an overall 'mass aesthetization' which characterizes (...) contemporary societies. (shrink)

Many cultures have had knowledge imposed from outside, whether by force or for reasons of power, to the detriment of their own endogenous knowledge and the wisdom developed throughout their history. Would Japan’s acquisition of Western knowledge have led but to the development of a lesser know-how, devoid of meaning or sense, or even of knowledge which it might be better to ignore? Far from benefiting from an endogenous development or a modernization respectful of beings and of their environment, the (...) developing countries that superficially adopt this unilateral knowledge undergo a type of ‘self-colonization’. Although concurring with biologist Keiko Nakamura’s theory that scientific attitudes must be studied from within, Masahiro Hamashita considers that knowledge from outside allows for more solid internal reflection. He thus advocates the development of an integrated, hybrid knowledge, where external knowledge is mixed with internal knowledge in a spontaneous, harmonious way, as was the case with the traditional knowledge that Japan acquired from China. (shrink)

Yanagita Kunio (1875-1962), one of the most representative of Japanese folklorists, sees the different aspects of forests as a composite whole comprising customs, legends and way of life of the inhabitants. Yanagita looks at this in detail, wishing to understand how the forest is related to the life and customs of the people living there, an attitude that could be called an understanding from within. Given the complexity of the issue of the earth’s ecology, Yanagita suggests adopting the same attitude.