ABSTRACT “Meister Eckhart’s Mysticism in Comparison with Zen Buddhism” originally appeared as the concluding section of Ueda Shizuteru’s first book, Die Gottesgeburt in der Seele und der Durchbruch zur Gottheit: Die mystische Anthropologie Meister Eckharts und ihre Konfrontation mit der Mystik des Zen-Buddhismus. It was first published in 1965 as an expanded version of Ueda’s doctoral dissertation, which was written under the supervision of Ernst Benz at the University of Marburg. Ueda’s careful analysis not only illuminates important (...) points of affinity between Eckhart and Zen, but also explains why Eckhart’s mysticism cannot be simply interchanged with Zen Buddhism. To allow the reader to read for themselves, I kept all interpretative notes to a minimum. The text is translated from the most recent edition of the German text, published in 2018 by Verlag Karl Alber, and edited by Wolf Burbat. The German pagination is interpolated in bold throughout the text. (shrink)

Study of Vaiśeṣika philosophy with special reference to Vaiśeṣikadaśapadārthaśāstra.

It has been suggested that preparing to teach and teaching are conditionally effective in enhancing one’s own learning. This paper focuses on interactivity—the level of teacher-student interaction in expected or actual teaching—as the potential key to understanding and controlling the variability in the effectiveness of learning by preparing to teach and teaching. By summarizing and reanalyzing the results of previous studies, I suggest that the learning benefits of studying with the expectation of direct teaching (i.e., teaching a student face-to-face) are (...) greater than those of studying with the expectation of indirect teaching (i.e., teaching a student indirectly by creating a lecture video, providing written explanations, or using other means) and that learning by direct teaching surpasses learning by explaining to oneself or indirect teaching at least after preparing to do so. Next, three candidate explanations for the impact of interactivity are discussed: the advantages of asking and answering questions, obtaining additional information about and from one’s student, and enhancing one’s motivation to process learning material deeply while preparing to teach and teaching. Finally, I conclude with the remaining questions and directions for future research. (shrink)

In April of 2006, the prominent cultural anthropologist Noriyuki Ueda sat down with the Dalai Lama for a two day conversation. This book is based on that long and lively conversation in Dharamsala.

The question of the existence of cultural universals immediately leads us to the problem of intercultural communication and of so-called incommensurability. Over the last few decades, these topics have been the subject of controversy in the philosophy of science, and the stock of universalism has been falling as a result of the rise of Kuhn’s paradigm theory and Quine’s thesis of the indeterminacy of translation. Nowadays cultural pluralism or relativism is rather dominant among philosophers and has begun to appear plausible, (...) too, from an anthropological or sociological point of view. But philosophically, as is well known, relativism harbors many difficulties and paradoxes. As philosophers, therefore, we cannot accept imprudent relativism just as it is. (shrink)

The severe accident at the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power plant caused by the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011 was a typical disaster in the age of “trans-science,” which means the situation that science and politics are closely connected and inseparable. The stage of trans-science requires a philosophy of trans-science instead of a philosophy of science such as logical positivism. I would like to characterize norms for techno-scientists in the risk society as RISK, which includes Regulatory deliberation, Intergenerational ethics, (...) Social accountability and Knowledge-product liability. (shrink)

Autonomous sensory meridian response is a complex sensory-emotional experience characterized by pleasant tingling sensations initiating at the scalp. ASMR is triggered in some people by stimuli including whispering, personal attention, and crisp sounds. Since its inception, ASMR has been likened to synesthesia, but convincing empirical data directly linking ASMR with synesthesia is lacking. In this study, we examined whether the prevalence of synesthesia is indeed significantly higher in ASMR-responders than non-responders. A sample of working adults and students were surveyed about (...) their experience with ASMR and common types of synesthesia. The proportion of synesthetes who were classified as ASMR-responders was 52%, whereas 22% of ASMR-responders were also synesthetes. These results suggest that: over half of those identifying as synesthetes also experience ASMR, and that synesthesia is up to four times as common among ASMR-responders as among non-responders. Findings also suggest a prevalence rate for ASMR of approximately 20%. Overall, the co-occurrence of ASMR and synesthesia lends empirical support to the idea that ASMR may be driven by synesthetic mechanisms, but future research would benefit from examining how ASMR and synesthesia are different, as well as similar. (shrink)

To explain why students learn effectively by teaching, explaining to others in particular, Koh and colleagues advanced the retrieval practice hypothesis, which attributes the learning benefits entirely to the effect of practicing retrieval, that is, effortfully recalling to-be-taught information for the provision of instructional explanations. After delineating the rationale behind the retrieval practice hypothesis, the current situation of research, and the limitations of the existing approach, this paper proposes three tests for the evaluation of the hypothesis that address whether explaining (...) to others after initial studying surpasses restudying in learning performance, whether the amount of effort to retrieve to-be-taught information from memory moderates the learning effects of explaining to others, and whether the degree of elaboration during retrieval practice positively predicts the outcomes of learning by merely recalling to-be-taught information. Evidence is examined regarding whether each test is passed, and future directions for research on the retrieval practice hypothesis are discussed. (shrink)

The objective of this paper is to establish a theoretical foundation for food education in schools. Amartya Sen’s capability approach (CA), an ethical theory concerning the freedom required to achieve one’s well-being, was applied to define the previously unchallenged ethical nature of food education. The analyses were informed by foundational CA concepts, Sen’s own perspectives on ‘food’ and ‘education’, and CA-based education studies. Through these analyses, the fundamental nature of food education was defined as follows: ‘Capability to eat well’ is (...) the freedom to convert commodities (such as food or pocket money) into the ‘functionings to eat well’ that constitute children’s ‘well-eating’ (Definition 1); and the objective of food education as public policy is to expand such capability to eat well (Def. 2). However, if an appropriate pedagogy is not employed, children’s capability can be reduced (Def. 3); therefore, to avoid this, the pedagogy has to enable them to perceive more ‘associations’ (in a Deweyan sense) between related conversion factors (Def. 4), as well as to choose and participate in the educational process (Def. 5). This theory not only elucidated the ethical nature of food education but also expanded the scope of the application of the CA to food issues. (shrink)

The objective of this article is to gain an in-depth understanding of the eating lives of low-income single mothers in Japan. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine low-income single mothers living in the three largest urban areas (Tokyo, Hanshin [Osaka and Kobe] and Nagoya) in Japan. Framed by the capability approach and sociology of food, their dietary norms and practices, as well as underlying factors that impact the norm-practice gap were analysed across nine dimensions: meal frequency, place of eating, meal (...) timing, duration, persons to eat with, procurement method, food quality, meal content and pleasure of eating. These mothers were deprived of various types of capabilities, extending not only from the quantity and nutritional aspects of food, but also to spatial, temporal, qualitative and affective aspects. Aside from financial constraints, eight other factors (time, maternal health, parenting difficulties, children’s tastes, gendered norms, cooking abilities, food aid and local food environment) were identified as influencing their capabilities to eat well. The findings challenge the view that food poverty is the deprivation of economic resources required to ensure a sufficient amount of food. Social interventions that go beyond monetary aid and food provision need to be proposed. (shrink)

In the October edition of the Journal of Medical Ethics, Akabayashi and colleagues state that ’to establish a heterogeneous [induced pluripotent stem cell] iPSC bank covering roughly 80% of Japan’s population…the Japanese government decided to invest JPY110 billion over 10 years in regenerative medicine research; a quarter of this was to be allocated to the iPSC stock project'. While they claim this amount of money to be an unfair distribution of state resources, we believe their assessment is based on a (...) misunderstanding of the facts. Similarly, other criticisms by them are based on mistaken interpretations. This article is a rebuttal to the arguments that form the basis of Akabayashi and colleagues’ five criticisms by explaining their misinterpretations. (shrink)

Many educators today think that the school's lessons and activities do not stimulate or engage students' imaginations. In order to alleviate this problem, they tend to use images in conjunction with, or sometimes rather than, words; they employ so-called imaginative or creative activities rather than chalk and talk. However, these principles and methods are based on somewhat misguided or trivial understanding of the importance of imagination in students' lives. Dewey's understanding of the relevance of imagination gives us a useful perspective (...) to better understand where imaginative engagement becomes crucial in education. (shrink)

はたして科学は万能なのか。19世紀以来の「科学主義」は、現在なお「自然主義」の衣を纏って生き続けている。本書は「科学主義」と「反科学主義」をともに退け、科学を自然というテクストを解読する解釈学的営みと して捉え直す。ハンソンとクーンの「新科学哲学」、クワインの「知識の全体論」、ウィトゲンシュタインの「アスペクト論」を手がかりに、科学哲学に「科学的理性批判」という本来の哲学的課題を担わせることを目指す 。ここに新たに論文3篇を加え、サイエンス・ウォーズや実在論/反実在論など、現代の哲学状況と切り結ぶスリリングな論考。.

古代・中世のアリストテレス的自然観を克服し、信仰や迷信から独立することで17世紀に近代「科学」は誕生した。しかしパラダイム転換はくり返され、20世紀には科学技術に伴うリスクも叫ばれるようになる。科学哲 学の第一人者がこうした決定的な転換点に光をあてながら、知の歴史のダイナミズムへと誘う。科学神話が揺らぐ今だからこそもう一度深く掘り下げる、入門書の決定版。.

はたして科学は万能なのか。19世紀以来の「科学主義」は、現在なお「自然主義」の衣を纏って生き続けている。本書は「科学主義」と「反科学主義」をともに退け、科学を自然というテクストを解読する解釈学的営みと して捉え直す。ハンソンとクーンの「新科学哲学」、クワインの「知識の全体論」、ウィトゲンシュタインの「アスペクト論」を手がかりに、科学哲学に「科学的理性批判」という本来の哲学的課題を担わせることを目指す 。ここに新たに論文3篇を加え、サイエンス・ウォーズや実在論/反実在論など、現代の哲学状況と切り結ぶスリリングな論考。.

The March 11, 2011, Great East Japan Earthquake caused extensive damage to the Tōhoku district of Japan and gave rise to many arguments concerning the meaning of “disaster” as well as the road to recovery. In particular, the severe accident of the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power plant reminded us of the overconfidence of science and technology. In this article, I will discuss concepts such as “disaster of civilization,” “impermanence,” “betweenness,” and the double structure of the Japanese view of nature.