The thinkers of the early Meiji period advocated the British Enlightenment values derived from Western civil society. They attempted to criticise Japanese traditional authority and feudalism. However they were finally in harmony with the government and accepted the modernization from the above without the radicalness. In 1873, Mori Arinori formed Meirokusha. The people who gathered in this cultural association had much in common with points such as regarding practical learning as important, catching human characteristics practically and assuming the form of government that accepted the conditions of a country an ideal. Mori Arinori promoted national education as Minister of Education. Nishi Amane affirmed a human behaviour based on interest. Katō Hiroyuki threw away natural rights under influence of social Darwinism, and instead advocated the survival of the fittest.