Synarchism (the Symphony That Never Ends)

Kiyoshi Shibata was a Japanese expatriate with no known counterparts in other parallels. Shibata's studies in Cologne brought him into contact with the self-named Rationalist philosophers who sought to restructure society according to the dictates of pure reason. Shibata reworked their theories into a grand scheme of "sociodynamics", which appeared in a dozen books from 1849 until Shibata's death in 1884. These works claim a definitive scientific explanation of all of human society.
Shibatan analysis is based on cultural elements, which he called "sympathies" in the individual mind and "factions" in society (the debate over the precise relation of these two terms continues in theoretical synarchism). These create individual and collective opinions through a dynamic competition. To a sweeping and subtle analysis Shibata added a utopian call: although in the past "factions" had evolved only by their own inner logic, the time had come to remake them according to the dictates of reason, and so impose at last true order on the ungoverned chaos of human affairs. Shibata thought this process was the basic story of history: the natural evolution from primitive anarchy to synarchy, the final society in which every institution and every thought work in harmony for the greater good.
Despite simplifications and fundamental errors in Shibatan theory, its hybrid of "scientific" social analysis and revolutionary utopianism proved a potent blend. Its persuasiveness was enhanced by evolutionary theory, which Shibata helped introduce to Europe. The whole Rationalist movement was virtually hijacked by Synarchists, and Shibatan theories emerged as perhaps the dominant strain in intellectual life during the 19th and 20th centuries. Even today, it is more natural for most theorists in Shikaku-mon to think in terms of culture than, for instance, economics. Synarchist parties became the most significant political organizations in most European countries.
Synarchists in countries outside the Swedish sphere of influence had already reclaimed much of their independence by the time the Britannic War finally put an end to Swedish pretensions. Nevertheless, synarchism remains alive as a utopian/radical movement, and Shibatan-style social theory remains one of the major themes in contemporary social science.
Category:Philosophies
Category:The Symphony That Never Ends