Since the collapse of Japan's bubble economy in the early 1990' s, the Japanese economy has only recovered slightly. This has direct implications for employment. Both the seniority wage system and the lifetime employment system, which were popular during the period of economic growth in Japan, unavoidably changed to an outcome-wage system. Now there is greater mobility in employment, increased use of nonregular employees, and diversed working patterns. The problem of karoshi – a potentially fatal syndrome resulting from long work (...) hours – has been known since the early 1980s. This problem has become more serious in recent years. The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the economic and employment conditions in Japan, as well as to examine the working lifestyle of Japanese men and its connection to "karoshi." It is argued that the long work hours are not the preference of individuals, but rather the result of the adaptation to the work environment, and; solving this problem requires re-conceptualization of workers' human rights on the part of both companies and the society as a whole. (shrink)
The Japanese marker _-te-i-_ can have progressive, resultative, and existential perfect readings and has often been regarded as ambiguous. This paper shows that there is no clear evidence that _-te-i-_ is ambiguous. It proposes a monosemous analysis of _-te-i-_ that unifies its multiple readings and shows how progressives and perfects can form a natural semantic class. Within the context of a Discourse Representation Theory, I propose that _-te-i-_ consists of an imperfective operator _-te-_ and a stativizer _-i-_. The imperfective operator (...) _-te-_ takes an eventuality as its argument and outputs a subpart of the eventuality, which precedes a reference time interval. Secondly, a stativizer _-i-_ maps the subpart of the eventuality, i.e. _-te-_'s output, onto a state which overlaps with reference time and whose category is semantically underspecified and is determined via pragmatic inferences. The vague output of the imperfective operator, i.e. whether it is a proper subpart or nonproper subpart of an eventuality, leads to the contrast between progressive readings and perfect readings of _-te-i-_. (shrink)
The Japanese marker -te-i- can have progressive, resultative, and existential perfect readings and has often been regarded as ambiguous. This paper shows that there is no clear evidence that -te-i- is ambiguous. It proposes a monosemous analysis of -te-i- that unifies its multiple readings and shows how progressives and perfects can form a natural semantic class. Within the context of a Discourse Representation Theory (Kamp and Reyle 1993, de Swart 1998), I propose that -te-i- consists of an imperfective operator -te- (...) and a stativizer -i-. The imperfective operator -te- takes an eventuality as its argument and outputs a (non-necessarily proper) subpart of the eventuality, which precedes a reference time interval. Secondly, a stativizer -i- maps the subpart of the eventuality, i.e. -te-'s output, onto a state which overlaps with reference time and whose category is semantically underspecified and is determined via pragmatic inferences. The vague output of the imperfective operator, i.e. whether it is a proper subpart or nonproper subpart of an eventuality, leads to the contrast between progressive readings and perfect readings of -te-i-. (shrink)
The purpose of this paper is to examine the ateleological moment of learning through imitation. In general, we can learn something new through imitating models we are given, which embody the values of our own society, culture and institutions. This means that imitation is understood in terms of the representation or reproduction of original models. In this understanding of imitation, however, the creative aspect of imitation is missed. In relation to this I shall, first, consider learning through imitation in terms (...) of Walter Benjamin's theory of mimesis discussed in his essay, ‘On the Mimetic Faculty.’ It begins by examining general understanding of the concepts of experience and writing. Second and third, while reconsidering the idea of imitation, I shall bring out the difference between mimesis and copying, based on Plato and Aristotle, and I shall examine the former, especially its involuntary aspect. Fourth, in order to consider the ateleological moment of learning through imitation as mimesis, I discuss the relation between mimesis and the chance event. Fifth, Benjamin's allegorical ‘anti-autobiography’ entitled ‘A Berlin Childhood around 1900’, which ponders the idea of childhood as otherness is considered in order to explore what is happening in the very moment of writing, driven by the chance event. To conclude, I shall show how the very moment of writing involves an unceasing transformation of the self. (shrink)
Free will in intentional consciousness is exposed to skeptics since it was found that subconscious neural activities, what is called readiness potential, precedes the intention to an action. The question of whether free will is an authentic illusion has been argued not only in psychology but physics and philosophy. Most of scientists, however, think that the intentional consciousness who believes to have his/her own free will, is determined by readiness potential in advance, and that free will cannot coexist with determinism. (...) We here point out that knowing to be determined in advance cannot be verified till local event at a local site can be known from a different local site without disturbing the event. That is the assumption of locality. We here show that determinism, free will and locality are three essential elements in consciousness, and show that they constitute trilemma. The fact that one of three elements must be abandoned can lead to three types of consciousness. Absence of free will can constitute type I consciousness which is consistent with symptoms in autism spectrum disorder such as weakened theory of mind. Absence of determinism can constitute type II consciousness which is consistent with symptoms in schizophrenia such as thought insertion, self-other integration. Absence of locality can constitute type III consciousness which is consistent with typical people. We can find the entanglement of intentional consciousness with unconsciousness including readiness potential only in type III consciousness. Finally, we show that sense of agency and free will cannot be established until consciousness as an entanglement is implemented. (shrink)
This book offers inspiration and support to female faculty members in higher education who are at various stages of their professional development. Twenty-four educators share both their intuitive voices and practical knowledge on the topics of career development, balancing personal and professional life, cultural and individual identity, and spirituality.
While entanglement is a phenomenon discussed in quantum theory, it can also be found in art. We propose to connect entanglement to art’s most fundamental question: what is creativity? For example, Marcel Duchamp found the essence of the creative act in the “art coefficient,” the difference and/or gap between the artist’s intention and realization which is created. This paper locates the common sense understanding of entanglement in an inseparable whole that ensures difference between the intention and realization. Seeing the artistic (...) act as actively designing entanglement within artistic production, we present examples of this from the work of the Japanese-style painter Nakamura, and present a concrete vision for an answer regarding the question of the nature of creativity. (shrink)
In almost 40 per cent of households in North America, dogs are kept as companion animals. Dogs may be man's best friends, but what are humans to dogs? If these animals' loyalty and unconditional love have won our hearts, why do we so often view closely related wild canids, such as foxes, wolves, and coyotes, as pests, predatory killers, and demons? Re-examining the complexity and contradictions of human attitudes towards these animals, Dog's Best Friend? looks at how our relationships with (...) canids have shaped and also been transformed by different political and economic contexts. Journeying from ancient Greek and Roman societies to Japan's Edo period to eighteenth-century England, essays explore how dogs are welcomed as family, consumed in Asian food markets, and used in Western laboratories. Contributors provide glimpses of the lives of street dogs and humans in Bali, India, Taiwan, and Turkey and illuminate historical and current interactions in Western societies. The book delves into the fantasies and fears that play out in stereotypes of coyotes and wolves, while also acknowledging that events such as the Wolf Howl in Canada's Algonquin Park indicate the emergence of new popular perspectives on canids. Questioning where canids belong, how they should be treated, and what rights they should have, Dog's Best Friend? reconsiders the concept of justice and whether it can be extended beyond the limit of the human species. (shrink)
Inhalt: I. Logik, Methodologie und Hermeneutik der Interkulturalität. Ram ADHAR MALL: Einheit angesichts der Vielfalt. Bernhard WALDENFELS: Kulturelle und soziale Fremdheit. Gerhard PASTERNACK: Hermeneutik als Daseinsanalytik. Intrakulturelle Explikationen des interkulturellen Verstehens. Franz WIMMER: Identität und Kulturbrüche. Hans P. STURM: Die vierfache Negationslogik im östlichen und westlichen Denken. Jayandra SONI: Einheit und Vielfalt aus der Sicht der siebenstufigen Prädikationslogik. Gregor PAUL: Logik, Verstehen und Kulturen. Michael KRAUSZ: Two Aims of Cultural Interpretation: Explaining and Healing. Thierry LENAIN: Understanding the Past: History as (...) an Intercultural Process. Ryosuke OHASHI: Womit muß der Vergleich in der vergleichenden Ästhetik gemacht werden? Georg STENGER: Phänomenologische Methode und Interkulturelle Philosophie. Douwe TIEMERSMA: On the concepts of energy in Western and Indian traditions and the methodology of intercultural investigation. Dieter LOHMAR: Intersubjectivity and the meeting of cultures. A critique of the hermeneutics of the 'strict analogy'. Morteza GHASEMPOUR: Philosophie und Bildung. Notker SCHNEIDER: Verbindlichkeit zwischen Einheit und Vielfalt - Versuch über die normative Kraft eines 'basalen Essentialismus'. II. Erkennen und Handeln. Gibt es eine Differenz der Geschlechter? Tanella BONI: Das Geschlecht und die Macht. Bettina DAUSIEN: Die biographische Konstruktion von Geschlecht. Yacouba KONATÉ: Mythen und Wirklichkeiten der afrikanischen Frau. Hans Jörg SANDKÜHLER: Pluralismus - Geschlechterdifferenzen und andere mögliche Welten. Martina PLÜMACHER: Geschlechterdifferenz als Symbolsystem. Ilse N. BULHOF: Epistemology and Gender: the Question of Alterity. An Intercultural Reflection. Atsuko ONUKI: Vom Nutzen und Nachteil der Geschlechterdiskurse. Nausikaa SCHIRILLA: Einheit und Vielfalt - Konstruktionen von Weiblichkeit interkulturell. Michael MEUSER: Kulturelle Deutungsmuster von Männlichkeit. Veränderungen und Kontinuitäten. III. Philosophie und interkulturelle Bildung. Jürgen HENGELBROCK: Möglichkeiten und Grenzen philosophischer Kommunikation in der Schule. Peter GRAF: Interkulturelle Pädagogik als Schule der Wahrnehmung. (shrink)
