One of the most important of Japan's movements in search of a national identity during the 17th-18th centuries was known as kokugaku (national studies). It was the first major movement through which the intrinsic values inherent in ancient Japanese life were rediscovered from studies of early Japanese texts. Motoori Norinaga (1730-1801) was its greatest leader.

闇斎門下の個性豊かな諸家の事跡を通して、垂加神道の史的展開を検討すると共に、『日本書紀』神代巻の解釈に見える思想の根幹を明らかにする。.

The origins of Japan's medical ideas, which are deeply rooted in its religion, culture and history, are not widely understood in medical societies of other countries. We have taken up the task of summarising this tradition here so that some insight can be gained into the unique issues that characterise the practice of medicine in Japan. We borrow from the sayings of Tohkaku Wada, a medical philosopher of late eighteenth-century Japan, for a look at Japanese medical tradition. Wada's medical thought (...) was very much reflective of the Buddhism, Zen, and swordsmanship that informed eighteenth-century philosophy in Japan. His central concepts were “chu” and “sei”, that is, complete and selfless dedication to the patient and the practice of medicine. This paper explores Wada's thought, explaining it mainly from the standpoint of Japanese traditional culture. (shrink)

In this paper, I discuss the problems of ``order in social situations'' using a computer simulation of iterated N -person prisoners' dilemma game. It has been claimed that, in the case of the 2 -person prisoners' dilemma, repetition of games and the reciprocal use of the ``tit-for-tat'' strategy promote the possibility of cooperation. However, in cases of N -person prisoners' dilemma where N is greater than 2, the logic does not work effectively. The most essential problem is so called ``sanctioning (...) problems''. In this paper, firstly, I discuss the ``sanctioning problems'' which were introduced by Axelrod and Keohane in 1986. Based on the model formalized by Axelrod, I propose a new model, in which I added a mechanism of players' payoff changes in the Axelrod's model. I call this mechanism norm-internalization and call our model `` norm-internalization game ''. Second, by using the model, I investigated the relationship between agents' norm-internalization (payoff-alternation) and the possibilities of cooperation. The results of computer simulation indicated that unequal distribution of cooperating norm and uniform distribution of sanctioning norm are more effective in establishing cooperation. I discuss the mathematical features and the implications of the results on social science. (shrink)

「生物学の哲学」では、既存の人文系、哲学系という枠を超えて議論が繰り広げられている。本書は、日本における「生物学の哲学」の中心的研究者たち9人が、進化論を軸に、科学哲学、生物学、システム理論、数学、物 理学、心理学、人類学、歴史学、倫理学など様々な分野と接点を持って、バラエティある話題を展開する。原理的な問題から個別的な問題へと読者を誘う1冊。.

日本国家の成り立ち、天皇制のかたちに「孟子」はどのように関わっているのか。古代より現代に至る政治思想史を“革命”の視点から読み解く驚異の書!

In this paper, I will take advantage of the controversy on the legitimacy of adaptationism in evolutionary biology to further investigate the nature of adaptationistic thinking, or biological explanations in general. To this end, first I will look at the famous and provocative criticism made by Gould and Lewontin (1979) against then-prevalent adaptationism --- a research strategy for accounting for the origin of traits of organisms seemingly adapted to the environment by appealing primarily to natural selection. Then I will consider (...) its counterarguments put forward by Dennett (1995), one of the proponents of adaptationism, in order toscrutinize the intrinsically hypothetical character of adaptationistic thinking. By amplifying Dennett’s points, I will finally reach the conclusion that there are two senses --- objective and subjective --- in which adaptationistic thinking is said to be hypothetical, which nonetheless do not prevent it from qualifying as scientific practice. In the process, I will also gain an insight into the sense in which the theory of natural selection is said to be mechanistic, as a spin-off. (shrink)

CALHM1 was recently demonstrated to be a voltage‐gated ATP‐permeable ion channel and to serve as a bona fide conduit for ATP release from sweet‐, umami‐, and bitter‐sensing type II taste cells. Calhm1 is expressed in taste buds exclusively in type II cells and its product has structural and functional similarities with connexins and pannexins, two families of channel protein candidates for ATP release by type II cells. Calhm1 knockout in mice leads to loss of perception of sweet, umami, and bitter (...) compounds and to impaired gustatory nerve responses to these tastants. These new studies validate the concept of ATP as the primary neurotransmitter from type II cells to gustatory neurons. Furthermore, they identify voltage‐gated ATP release through CALHM1 as an essential molecular mechanism of ATP release in taste buds. We discuss these new findings, as well as unresolved issues in peripheral taste signaling that we hope will stimulate future research. (shrink)

To preserve postoperative brain function, it is important for neurosurgeons to fully understand the brain's structure, vasculature, and function. Intraoperative high-frequency electrical stimulation during awake craniotomy is the gold standard for mapping the function of the cortices and white matter; however, this method can only map the “focal” functions and cannot monitor large-scale cortical networks in real-time. Recently, an in vivo electrophysiological method using cortico-cortical evoked potentials induced by single-pulse electrical cortical stimulation has been developed in an extraoperative setting. By (...) using the CCEP connectivity pattern intraoperatively, mapping and real-time monitoring of the dorsal language pathway is available. This intraoperative CCEP method also allows for mapping of the frontal aslant tract, another language pathway, and detection of connectivity between the primary and supplementary motor areas in the frontal lobe network. Intraoperative CCEP mapping has also demonstrated connectivity between the frontal and temporal lobes, likely via the ventral language pathway. Establishing intraoperative electrophysiological monitoring is clinically useful for preserving brain function, even under general anesthesia. This CCEP technique demonstrates potential clinical applications for mapping and monitoring large-scale cortical networks. (shrink)

荷田春満が活躍した「荷田派の時代」に光を当て、近世の祭祀、神社・神職の実践的な活動と国学の思想を関連づけ、神道学による国学研究の枠組みを広げる意欲作。.

巨大な災害や事故、環境問題、医療、生命倫理など、進歩する科学技術は社会に大きな恩恵をもたらすと同時に深刻な問題を投げかける。これらの問題にアプローチする科学社会学の基本から最前線までがわかる初のテキス ト。.

Experience of matter can be described in the context of time and space, whereas, some people say, experience of mind may be described according to time only. Accordingly, though time and space together are regarded as objective forms, one may have a propensity for treating time alone as a particular form of the subjective consciousness. For space is indeed referred to the self-evidence of being, while time is thought to belong rather to the self-evidence of our own consciousness. According to (...) my opinion, however, even the spatial description is indispensable for the state of “mind”. For instance, the contents of our consciousness can be described only in terms of the localized phases of their images. Contrary to Kant, who regarded time and space together as forms of the outer intuition (i.e. as conditions of sensation), and time alone as form of the inner sense, I have a firm intention to assert them both as two forms of objective being because it is the being itself that can be the ultimate object of any of our cognitive powers — sensation, understanding and reason. Time and space are not forms proper to a particular “being” such as conscious existence like ours; they are also, nay, above all, two objective forms of being in general that transcends all such limited existences. It follows that these forms themselves, once abstracted in our mind, must, first of all, be valid for material beings; after that, i.e. derivatively and analogically, they may also be valid for mind-beings. The main aim of this paper is “dialectically” to elucidate that fact on the subject of time in particular. (shrink)