Watashitachi wa Sekai no “Aku” ni Dou Tachimukau ka (How We Deal with “Evil” in the World - UTokyo Frontier Lectures in Liberal Arts)

The East Asian Academy for New Liberal Arts, UTokyo (EAA) is a program established jointly with Peking University in 2019. Every year EAA offers an omnibus course titled “Looking Ahead 30 Years: The Liberal Arts in the World” that consists of the Academic Frontier Lecture series hosted by the College of Arts and Sciences. This book constitutes a record of the lectures titled “Looking Ahead 30 Years—On Science and Its ‘Evel’” that was delivered in FY2021. The COVID-19 pandemic precipitated reexamination of the significance of science. It is our belief that science in academia as well as the ideas and technology generated by research institutes can and should contribute to the betterment of human society. However, even a brief examination reveals that many of the difficulties that humanity is facing today have also resulted from ideas and technology generated by academia. As such, it is perhaps not enough for academia to self-define itself as a purveyor of good. Rather, we must be constantly vigilant of the “evil” that exists within and open our eyes to the reality that good and evil are inseparable. It is on this foundational understanding that we must continue our efforts to better the circumstances of humanity through scholarship.
 
It is from this overall vantagepoint that experts in various fields examine a range of topics from their respective perspectives that cut across the traditional boundaries of the humanities and sciences. The topics discussed include the theory and history of philosophical reflection on good and evil, the new “post-truth” era, political criticism arising from the concepts of racial and ethnic identity, and the question of how we should deal with the long-term historical changes to life in the global environment in the context of technological advancement.
 
The lectures on which the book is based are openly accessible at the UTokyo Open Course Ware (OCW) video streaming site. Both the lively discussion with audience members that occurred during the lectures and the Q&A sessions can be viewed in their entirety on the site. The book compiles the presentations, rewritten to incorporate the content of the Q&A session. Watching the lectures while reading the book provides a unique insight into the process by which knowledge born in the moment is transformed into written text.
 
The book constitutes a message regarding academics to junior division students in the College of Arts and Sciences of the University of Tokyo who are just entering the world of liberal arts, delivered by experts confronting urgent issues of the times in their respective fields.
 

(Written by ISHII Tsuyoshi, Professor, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences / 2023)