Is There a Non-Western Political Science? (Political Theory by Takashi Inoguchi)
The author of this review tries to answer the question – “Is there non-Western political science?” –targeting this analysis on the concept of one of the prominent Japanese thinkers, Inoguchi Takashi, andhis texts published during the past 7-year period, and especially new book “Political Theory” (Seiji riron).According to Inoguchi, although political theory as a part of the modern discipline of political science emergedonly in the 20th century, the origin of political theory are unquestionably in ancient thought – whether inthe philosophy of Greece, Mesopotamia, Egypt, or China. Inoguchi points also at the birth of science inancient India where the distinction between zero and one was first discovered. Again the non-West wentahead of the West. All this is meant to say that the adjective ‘non-Western' is unnecessary. Inoguchi alsoturns to the distinction between the Abrahamic tradition and the Dharmic tradition. The former emphasizesthe orientation of standardizing and unifying whereas the latter emphasizes the orientation of embracingdiversity and respecting differences. The former is strongly associated with Christianity, Islam, and Judaismwhereas the latter is strongly associated with Buddhism, Hinduism, Daoism and Shintoism. This distinctionis often overlooked but important in discussing political science. Inoguchi's answer to the question in the titleof this review is the following: “Neither Western political science, nor non-W estern political science; there is a political science of embracing and equilibrating two traditions – Abrahamic and Dharmic.”