An Interdisciplinary Study on the Diversification of Discourse on the Subject and Community due to the Influence of Atomism during the Long-18th-Century

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K00441
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 02030:English literature and literature in the English language-related
• Research Institution: Fukushima University
• Principal Investigator: Kawata Jun 福島大学, 人間発達文化学類, 教授 (70323186)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 原子論 / ユートピア / 主体 / 共同体 / 私欲 / 公益

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study is an interdisciplinary study of the impact of the rediscovery of atomism in the early modern era on the utopian discourse of the modern subject and community in the “long eighteenth century”. The study shows how, with the full-fledged acceptance of atomism, the consideration of man and the world, separated from God, was deepened in various fields, and how the new subject, community, and the relationship between the two, originating in atomism, began to be associated with commercial discourses, etc., and took on important meaning not only within the framework of the modern state, but also in the global sphere. The study also revealed the process of change and diversification of the relationship between science, community, and subject during the transition and development of the utopian discourse based on the penetration of atomism.

Free Research Field

英語文学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究は、(1) 精神性・道徳性重視のユートピア言説（研究）を、物質の重要性を認識することにより見直し、(2)「長い18世紀」という観点から、科学立国思想を、より現実的な科学と国家と主体の関係性の模索の過程として検討し、(3) 主体と共同体に関する理論基盤としての原子論の再評価、及び、その近代・現代的な意義を再考察した点において、学術的意義がある。原子論の観点から、「長い18世紀」におけるユートピア言説と主体と共同体の関係性の見直しを行うことで、21世紀現在における人間の精神性と肉体性の関係の見直し、文学／文化研究、人文学の役割・意義をめぐる問題を再検討した点で、社会的意義がある。