The modern western political theory based upon the war model (politics as the continuation of war by other means) has presupposed 'free and autonomous agent', who is able to trace his action to his own will, and able to believe that he is responsible for his action. If this is so, the Hobbesian servile state, where the multitude who are equal in terms of strength are led by 'fear' and 'hope', is only to be expected. This paper is a proposal of an alternative theory not on the pursuit of 'power' or 'strength', but rather on our 'weakness' or 'vulnerability' from an East Asian perspective. A focus on the equality of weakness may lead people to the virtue based on the strength of mind, creating courage based not on battle but escape.
In this respect the post-war Japanese understanding of peace is noteworthy. It shaped under the circumstance of double bind, namely, the existing paradox between the ideal of the Japanese peace constitution, and the preservation of a military force, despite Japan's professed abandonment of such a force, in the form of the Self-Defense Force, and moreover, the turning of Okinawa into a US military base under the Japanese-US Security Treaty.
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