His book Some Japanese flowers of 1896. an original copy of which is in the collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum, features handcolored collotypes of flowers native to Japan, including the lotus, several varieties of chrysanthemum and lily ...

Is there only one bioethics? Is a global bioethics possible? Or, instead, does one encounter a plurality of bioethical approaches shaped by local cultural and national traditions? Some thirty years ago a field of applied ethics emerged under the rubric `bioethics'. Little thought was given at the time to the possibility that this field bore the imprint of a particular American set of moral commitments. This volume explores the plurality of moral perspectives shaping bioethics. It is inspired by Kazumasa (...) Hoshino's critical reflections on the differences in moral perspectives separating Japanese and American bioethics. The essays include contributions from Hong Kong, China, Japan, Texas, the United States, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy. The volume offers a rich perspective of the range of approaches to bioethics. It brings into question whether there is unambiguously one ethics for bioethics to apply. (shrink)

Approximately 30 years ago, a son prepared a cup of milk mixed with insecticide and arranged for his mother to unknowingly administer the poison to his father, who had been suffering severe pain after a cerebral apoplectic attack and demanding that his son assist him. in dying. After drinking the mixture, the father died, and the son was charged with homicide.

Crucial problems exist in understanding Japanese traditional customs with regard to autonomous decision making by patients in Japan. These problems are difficult to comprehend because they seem, by western standards, to defy logic. Questions that baffle those outside the Japanese tradition, include: Why do many Japanese patients hesitate to make medical treatment and care decisions for themselves without consulting family, close friends, or someone viewed as being in a superior position? Why do many Japanese physicians fail to disclose the truth (...) directly to the patient, instead customarily conveying information to family members, despite the doctors' awareness of their legal obligation to protect the patient's privacy? Why do many Japanese physicians continue to question whether patients should be told the truth at all? What perpetuates Japan's widespread, but often unnoticed, neglect of the individual's right to self-determination in healthcare decision making? (shrink)

Profit Sharing is one of the reinforcement learning methods. An agent, as a learner, selects an action with a state-action value and receives rewards when it reaches a goal state. Then it distributes receiving rewards to state-action values. This paper discusses how to set the initial value of a state-action value. A distribution function ƒ( x ) is called as the reinforcement function. On Profit Sharing, an agent learns a policy by distributing rewards with the reinforcement function. On Markov Decision (...) Processes (MDPs), the reinforcement function ƒ( x ) = 1/ L x is useful, and on Partially Observable Markov Decision Processes (POMDPs), ƒ( x ) = 1/ L w is useful, where L is the sufficient number of rules at each state, and W is the length of an episode. If episodes are always long, the value of the reinforcement function is little. So the differences of rule values become little, and the agent learns little by using the roulette selection as an action selection. This problem is called as Learning Speed Problem. If the value of the reinforcement function for an action is very higher than its state-action value, an agent will not select other action. There is a problem when its action is not a optimal action. This problem is called as Past Experiences Problem. This paper shows that both Learning Speed Problem and Past Experiences Problem are caused by the bad setting between the initial values of a state-action values and the function values of a reinforcement function. We propose how to set the initial values of a state-action values at each state. The experiment shows that an agent can learn correctly even if the length of episode is large. And shows the effectiveness on both MDPs and POMDPs. Our proposed method focuses on the initialization of state-action values and does not limit reinforcement functions. So it can apply to any reinforcement function. (shrink)

In this paper, we consider profit sharing that is one of the reinforcement learning methods. An agent learns a candidate solution of a problem from the reward that is received from the environment if and only if it reaches the destination state. A function that distributes the received reward to each action of the candidate solution is called the reinforcement function. On this learning system, the agent can reinforce the set of selected actions when it gets the reward. And the (...) agent should not reinforce the detour actions. First, we will propose a new constraint equation about reinforcement functions to distribute the reinforcement values on the non-detour actions. If we use the reinforcement function to satisfy the constraint equation, the agent can select the non-detour actions directing to the destination state. Next, it is shown that the reinforcement function can be constant after learning process to suppress the selection of detour actions. Lastly, in computer simulations for maze problems, we show that the learning performance of agents does not depend on the size of environment. (shrink)

「戦前=戦後」だけでなく、昭和はつねに「二つの貌」を持っていた。皇国史観から安保・学生運動まで、相反する気分が対立しつつ同居する昭和の奇妙な精神風土の本質を、丸山眞男・平泉澄・西田幾多郎・蓑田胸喜らの 思想を元に解読する。.

There are three conceptions of expression in Husserl: (1) expression as a physical or sensible entity (expression-token), (2) expression as a repeatable entity (expression-type), and (3) expression as an act that connects token and type to each other (act of expressing). Only when all three notions are considered canHusserl's theory of expression and its meaning be correctly interpreted. However, such an interpretation does not ensure the correctness of Husserl’s theory itself. Rather, the distinctions of the three notions reveal implausibility in (...) the theory, because using an expression-token is nothing other than having a presentation(Vorstellung) of it. In his manuscript of 1914, Husserl attempts to overcome that implausibility but in a way that gives rise to another difficulty. (shrink)

Annual and cumulative incidences of HIV + and AIDS in patients reported by the AIDS Surveillance Committee of the Ministry of Health and Welfare are cited to illustrate some characteristics in Japan: nearly 59% of either HIV + or AIDS patients were infected through injection of blood products or by blood transfusion. A number of plaintiffs have sued the Japanese government and pharmaceutical companies since 1989, but no judicial decisions have yet been made. The incidence of HIV decreases for each (...) of the following routes of infection: the second highest route of transmission being heterosexual, followed by bisexual and unconfirmed or unknown cases, and less frequently homosexual, drug use and lastly via vertical transmission. The most serious bioethical problems with HIV + and AIDs patients in Japan is the social segregation of these patients. There are many emotional fears among the general public and medical personnel about AIDS because of their inadequate scientific knowledge of this disease. The Japan Hospital Association is doing The Stop AIDS Campaign and made several surveys. Japan has become increasingly aware of the importance of AIDS education and a great deal of effort is being made to enhance bioethical considerations. (shrink)

The chapter contextualizes and reconstructs Walther’s theory of social acts. In her view a given act qualifies as social if it is performed in the name of or on behalf of a community. Interestingly, Walther’s understanding of that notion is patently at odds with the idea of a social act originally propounded by Reinach. According to Reinach, an act is social if it “addresses” other persons and if it, for its success, requires them to grasp it. We claim that to (...) explain Walther’s reconfiguration of this concept, one has to look into the use that Husserl makes of it. Husserl adopts this idea from Reinach to tackle a problem that is not discussed by the latter. This is the problem of how communities, by means of social acts, are “constituted” in consciousness. Walther shares with Husserl the concern about the constitution of communities and her radical revision of Reinach’s idea is presented as an attempt to offer an alternative solution to Husserl’s problem. (shrink)

Annual and cumulative incidences of HIV+ and AIDS in patients reported by the AIDS Surveillance Committee of the Ministry of Health and Welfare are cited to illustrate some characteristics in Japan: nearly 59% of either HIV+ or AIDS patients were infected through injection of blood products or by blood transfusion. A number of plaintiffs have sued the Japanese government and pharmaceutical companies since 1989, but no judicial decisions have yet been made. The incidence of HIV decreases for each of the (...) following routes of infection: the second highest route of transmission being heterosexual, followed by bisexual and unconfirmed or unknown cases, and less frequently homosexual, drug use and lastly via vertical transmission. The most serious bioethical problems with HIV+ and AIDS patients in Japan is the social segregation of these patients. There are many emotional fears among the general public and medical personnel about AIDS because of their inadequate scientific knowledge of this disease. The Japan Hospital Association is doing The Stop AIDS Campaign and made several surveys. Japan has become increasingly aware of the importance of AIDS education and a great deal of effort is being made to enhance bioethical consideration. (shrink)

インフォームド・コンセント、脳死と臓器移植、生体肝移植、終末医療と尊厳死、体外受精...。これら医療の新しい問題をどう考えたらいいのか。バイオエシックスが生まれ育った北米で二十年を過ごし、日本の医療倫 理の確立のために活躍してきた著者が、患者中心の医療の倫理とは何か、わが国になじむ倫理とは何かを、情熱をこめて語る。.

The Japanese government took significant steps in making decisions about a newly developing clinical application of gene therapy when, on April 15, 1993, the Government officially accepted the Guidelines for Clinical Research on Gene Therapy submitted by the Health Science Council of the Ministry of Health and Welfare of Japan to the Minister.

According to Gerda Walther, a community arises only if positive feelings, which she calls inner unification, eliminate hostilities among people. There are two objections to this claim, which one can develop from Aron Gurwitsch’s critical examination of Walther’s account. The present paper aims to respond to those objections and, through this, to clarify her account of community. To this end, the author deals with Walther’s brief remark on a “pathological” form of community and her accounts of inner unification. Considering those (...) two factors, the author further shows that Walther’s idea is more plausible than it initially may appear. Contrary to what Gurwitsch seems to think, her account of communities allows for conflict and even certain types of hostility within a community. (shrink)

L’ambition de cet article est de reformuler l’ontologie des propositions proposée par Husserl dans ses Prolegomena zur reinen Logik (1900). Dans cet ouvrage, Husserl affirme que les propositions, auxquelles a trait ce qu’il appelle la “logique pure”, sont des propriétés (des “species”) d’actes, mettons d’actes de jugement. En outre, il considère les propriétés comme circonscrivant toutes leurs instantiations possibles. Sur cette base, on comprend mieux en quel sens la réflexion de Husserl sur la nature de la logique dépend de son (...) ontologie des propositions. Dans cet article, les deux points suivants sont discutés dans cette perspective. D’abord, la structure de son argument négatif contre le psychologisme n’est dans son ensemble correctement comprise que si l’on prend en considération l’ontologie husserlienne des propositions. Cela explique pourquoi la conception de la logique comme une science normative a priori ne satisfait pas Husserl lorsqu’il vise à réfuter le psychologisme. Ensuite, sa conception positive des lois logiques serait aussi rendue plus intelligible par cette théorie. Celle-ci fournit tout ce qui est nécessaire pour réfuter le psychologisme sans renoncer pour autant à une conception globalement aristotélicienne de la logique, que Husserl tient pour indispensable mais qu’il serait particulèrement difficile de maintenir dans le cadre de la conception normative a priori. (shrink)

In this contribution we discuss Gallagher's and Zahavi's project of naturalization of phenomenology. In their book The Phenomenological Mind, they aim at intertwining the phenomenological method with a number of results from the field of cognitive sciences. Nevertheless, one could oppose that such a project is based upon a metaphysical assumption: indeed, if mental states belong to nature, they should be approached by natural sciences. This paper replies to this objection by emphasizing how Gallagher and Zahavi opt for a transcendental (...) perspective in order to avoid any ambiguity between their project of naturalization of phenomenology and a naturalistic theory of consciousness. (shrink)

L’exposition d’art dans des paysages est devenu populaire au Japon, avec la multiplication récente de festivals d’art locaux. Dans ces festivals, qui attirent chacun des centaines de milliers de visiteurs, coexistent des œuvres hétérogènes. Certaines sont des sculptures autonomes, d’autres des installations qui se fondent dans le paysage, et d’autres encore sont des œuvres de type « art relationnel ». Bien que ces œuvres in situ affirment leur lien essentiel avec le site naturel rural et avec le corps du spectateur (...) — constituant un événement, une expérience, une rencontre éphémère —, les relations avec le site comme avec le visiteur sont complexes et ambigües. Il y a des œuvres in situ, mais parfois aussi in aliquo situ : des œuvres qui peuvent être installées n’importe où. Qu’est-ce qui attire les visiteurs dans ces expositions? Quels sont donc la nature et le mérite de leur localisation? Si les visiteurs apprécient de voir des œuvres dans ces paysages cela peut être en partie lié au principe japonais traditionnel d’expérience des lieux dit meisho-meguri, ou « pèlerinage vers des sites célèbres ». Cette pratique issue du Moyen Âge est associée historiquement au sacré. Aujourd’hui ce pèlerinage prend la forme du tourisme moderne mais conserve un sens traditionnel invisible car les visiteurs se déplacent à travers une série de lieux géographiques selon un jeu culturellement codé. Selon nous, dans le cas des visites d’œuvres d’art en zones rurales, l’appréciation des œuvres d’art participe à ce même jeu traditionnel de se déplacer physiquement dans une série de lieux. Cette dimension spirituelle implicite modifie à son tour la perception des œuvres. Ainsi on dira que la pratique japonaise de visiter ces expositions d’art in situ témoigne de la survivance d’une tradition, et constitue ainsi un système alternatif d’expérience esthétique. The installations of artwork in natural landscapes have become popular in Japan with the recent increase in local art festivals. In these art festivals where hundreds of thousands of visitors gather, heterogeneous installations coexist; some are autonomous sculptures, some are fused into the natural landscape, and some belong to “relational art”. Although most works assert the essential quality of their location, and the experience as “an event”, their relationships to the rural areas and to the body of the visitor are complex and ambiguous. Some works are really in situ, but some are in aliquo situ—that is, works that could be installed anywhere. What attracts visitors to these exhibitions? Hence what is the nature and merit of the location? What is the relation to the visitor’s bodily presence? If visitors enjoy the site-specificity of the artwork this may be linked to the traditional Japanese system of experiencing places as meisho-meguri—i.e. “a pilgrimage to a series of famous sites”. This practice comes from the Middle Ages and was by then spiritual. While today these pilgrimages appear as a form of modern tourism, they retain a culturally coded character because visitors’s journey is like “a game of visiting a series of geographical places”. According to me, in the case of the visit of artistic sites, the appreciation of the artwork participates in this same game of bodily displacement to a series of places. This implicit spiritual underpinning conversely modifies the visitor’s perception of the works. Thus I propose that visiting artistic sites in natural settings in Japan appears as informed by this Japanese particular tradition, and thus constitutes an alternative system of contemporary aesthetic experience. (shrink)

The objective of Working Group 4 of the COST Action NET4Age-Friendly is to examine existing policies, advocacy, and funding opportunities and to build up relations with policy makers and funding organisations. Also, to synthesize and improve existing knowledge and models to develop from effective business and evaluation models, as well as to guarantee quality and education, proper dissemination and ensure the future of the Action. The Working Group further aims to enable capacity building to improve interdisciplinary participation, to promote knowledge (...) exchange and to foster a cross-European interdisciplinary research capacity, to improve cooperation and co-creation with cross-sectors stakeholders and to introduce and educate students SHAFE implementation and sustainability. To enable the achievement of the objectives of Working Group 4, the Leader of the Working Group, the Chair and Vice-Chair, in close cooperation with the Science Communication Coordinator, developed a template to map the current state of SHAFE policies, funding opportunities and networking in the COST member countries of the Action. On invitation, the Working Group lead received contributions from 37 countries, in a total of 85 Action members. The contributions provide an overview of the diversity of SHAFE policies and opportunities in Europe and beyond. These were not edited or revised and are a result of the main areas of expertise and knowledge of the contributors; thus, gaps in areas or content are possible and these shall be further explored in the following works and reports of this WG. But this preliminary mapping is of huge importance to proceed with the WG activities. In the following chapters, an introduction on the need of SHAFE policies is presented, followed by a summary of the main approaches to be pursued for the next period of work. The deliverable finishes with the opportunities of capacity building, networking and funding that will be relevant to undertake within the frame of Working Group 4 and the total COST Action. The total of country contributions is presented in the annex of this deliverable. (shrink)