The present study assesses imitative ability in chimpanzees and human children. A direct comparison of these two species was conducted in an object-manipulation task. The subjects were required to copy the model stack by stacking colored blocks in the same order as the model. Four juvenile/adolescent chimpanzees failed to copy the model stack even after a long training-period. Two adult chimpanzees eventually learned to copy the model stack of two blocks. However, they failed to copy the model of three blocks, (...) and analysis of their stacking patterns revealed that they only focused on the color of the top block in the model. Human children started to copy the model of two blocks when they were two years of age and gradually increased the number of successfully copied blocks. The results from both chimpanzees and humans are discussed in terms of the social intelligence involved in object manipulation. (shrink)

The present study assesses imitative ability in chimpanzees and human children. A direct comparison of these two species was conducted in an object-manipulation task. The subjects were required to copy the model stack by stacking colored blocks in the same order as the model. Four juvenile/adolescent chimpanzees failed to copy the model stack even after a long training-period. Two adult chimpanzees eventually learned to copy the model stack of two blocks. However, they failed to copy the model of three blocks, (...) and analysis of their stacking patterns revealed that they only focused on the color of the top block in the model. Human children started to copy the model of two blocks when they were two years of age and gradually increased the number of successfully copied blocks. The results from both chimpanzees and humans are discussed in terms of the social intelligence involved in object manipulation. (shrink)

We examined whether children's ability to integrate speech and gesture follows the pattern of a broader developmental shift between 3- and 5-year-old children regarding the ability to process two pieces of information simultaneously. In Experiment 1, 3-year-olds, 5-year-olds, and adults were presented with either an iconic gesture or a spoken sentence or a combination of the two on a computer screen, and they were instructed to select a photograph that best matched the message. The 3-year-olds did not integrate information in (...) speech and gesture, but 5-year-olds and adults did. In Experiment 2, 3-year-old children were presented with the same speech and gesture as in Experiment 1 that were produced live by an experimenter. When presented live, 3-year-olds could integrate speech and gesture. We concluded that development of the integration ability is a part of the broader developmental shift; however, live-presentation facilitates the nascent integration ability in 3-year-olds. (shrink)

The Hegelian dialectic, which goes beyond analytics based on formal logic, constitutes an essential component of Marxian thought. Yet a simple and straightforward introduction to the subject is hard to come by, due especially to confusion over the issue of materialism versus idealism. The following is a methodological primer in the dialectic of capital, a Marxian economic theory dialectically stated. Just as Hegel's "logic coincided with metaphysics," Marx's "coincides with economics.".

In this article, we examine philosophy of sport as a field of study in Japan, its history, characteristics, and future prospects, as part of a contribution to the international development of the discipline of sport philosophy. The Japan Society for the Philosophy of Sport and Physical Education has been holding an annual sport philosophy conference every year since its inception in 1978. Nevertheless, the trends of sport philosophy in Japan have not been conveyed abroad. The language barrier between Japanese and (...) English as an international communication tool makes it difficult to spread our work on the philosophy of sport throughout the world. The question arises as to whether the philosophy of sport in Japan has the same trends as those in the Western countries. Is it reasonable to assume that it has different aspects and interests than philosophy of sport in English-speaking countries? We will also try to address these questions for our audience. (shrink)

Provides an in-depth analysis of the differences between the Greek and Hebrew philosophies and religions while exaimining the consequences of both the Hellenic and Hebrew ethics codes.

Athletes in sport are not only physical beings but also spiritual beings. Sport is referred to sport as an issue of human self. What kind of inner self do athletes have in the context of modern sports? To consider the issue of self in sport, we focused on its two aspects, athletics and training. In conclusion, we proposed to combine individual training like Japanese shugyo influenced mainly by Zen philosophy with athletics developed in the West since the time of the (...) Greeks. When these are separated, the self of an athlete is still incomplete, and it is hard to attain genuine excellence or achievement. An athlete in such a separate state ofmind possibly ends up using irrational force or power when relying on individual training. On the other hand, an athlete who focuses only on competitions will have a strong inclination to be affected by the media and commercialism, while having chances to be approved by others. It is hence essential to combine the two approaches. If we redefine playing sports as the phenomenon that comprehends both our self-reflection and our encounters with others, it will serve as an occasion of great significance for people living in today’s world. (shrink)

Philosophy, which is limitless but abstract, and religions, which are concrete but unable to shed the limitations of their symbols, must construct a complementary relationship that draws on the strengths of both. Through developing philosophical insights into religious truth and values, we can shine new light on our modern maladies and urgent problems, such as the tendency to pursue facts but not truth in scholarly research (section 1), religious conflicts (section 2), and the rivalry between religion and ethics (section 3). (...) The author demonstrates ways this is possible from the perspectives of Old Testament studies, ethics, and modern Japanese Philosophy. (shrink)

An emerging perspective on human cognition and performance sees it as a kind of self-organizing phenomenon involving dynamic coordination across the body, brain and environment. Measuring this coordination faces a major challenge. Time series obtained from such cognitive, behavioral, and physiological coordination are often complicated in terms of non-stationarity and non-linearity, and in terms of continuous vs. categorical scales. Researchers have proposed several analytical tools and frameworks. One method designed to overcome these complexities is recurrence quantification analysis, developed in the (...) study of non-linear dynamics. It has been applied in various domains, including linguistic data or motion data. However, most previous studies have applied recurrence methods individually to categorical or continuous data. To understand how complex coordination works, an integration of these types of behavior is needed. We aimed to integrate these methods to investigate the relationship between language and motion directly. To do so, we added temporal information to categorical data, and applied joint recurrence analysis methods to visualize and quantify speech-motion coordination coupling during a rap performance. We illustrate how new dynamic methods may capture this coordination in a small case-study design on this expert rap performance. We describe a case study suggesting this kind of dynamic analysis holds promise, and end by discussing the theoretical implications of studying complex performances of this kind as a dynamic, coordinated phenomenon. (shrink)

The unique conceptual status of Thomas Sekine’s approach to Marx’s Capital and capitalism, heavily indebted to Kōzō Uno’s work, will be analyzed by setting against its own theoretical counterparts, orthodox dialectical materialism. It will also be shown that Sekine’s critique of dialectical materialism differs from other neo-Hegelian perspectives or Althusser’s anti-Hegelian structuralism. These comparisons unearth Sekine’s concealed epistemological preoccupations: totality, subsumption of labor, self-commodification, historical indeterminacy and the logico-historical error. Last, Sekine also considered neoclassical economics as (...) another form of unfounded orthodoxy both in conceptual and empirical terms, which he emphasizes in his analysis of the current phenomenon of financialization. (shrink)

The unique conceptual status of Thomas Sekine’s approach to Marx’s Capital and capitalism, heavily indebted to Kōzō Uno’s work, will be analyzed by setting against its own theoretical counterparts, orthodox dialectical materialism. It will also be shown that Sekine’s critique of dialectical materialism differs from other neo-Hegelian perspectives or Althusser’s anti-Hegelian structuralism. These comparisons unearth Sekine’s concealed epistemological preoccupations: totality, subsumption of labor, self-commodification, historical indeterminacy and the logico-historical error. Last, Sekine also considered neoclassical economics as (...) another form of unfounded orthodoxy both in conceptual and empirical terms, which he emphasizes in his analysis of the current phenomenon of financialization. (shrink)