On the background of such attitude to judge the gap between Western Europe and Japan from the standard of Western Europe, there was a single-track historical view of development which demands individual's acquisition of knowledge and improvement of culture standard, as the requirements for civilization and enhancement of national power.
こうした西欧を指標として日本との落差を計測する姿勢の背後には、一国の文明化・強国化の要件として国民一人々の知識獲得や文化程度の向上を求める単線的な発展史観があったのである。