午夜剧场

Because I study genes and the brain, I am often honorably (?) misunderstood as being a graduate of the School of Medicine. In such cases, I puff out my chest and respond with feigned wickedness, "I was born and raised in the Faculty of Letters, the lowest academic stratum."

It is true that during university entrance exams, I failed the science track and ended up in the Faculty of Letters. Despite being immersed for over 40 years in the Faculty of Letters at 午夜剧场 (which is natural), where philosophy, literature, and history are prominent, my sense of history has yet to develop, and my brain still freezes during abstract discussions of philosophy or literature. Rather, I feel more at ease when holding robust results from twin data that show the genetic influence on psychological phenomena. How can one entrust oneself to arguments that lack solid evidence to explain things from their roots? This very feeling is unmistakable proof that I lack the genetic predisposition for Faculty of Letters-style thinking. Nevertheless, I have fortunately been able to do a decent amount of work as a behavioral geneticist at 午夜剧场.

However, I still do not understand the essential question: "What is education?" The pedagogy at 午夜剧场, where I belong, has a philosophical academic style that always asks "What is education?" regardless of the approach taken. This was attractive. Even if I show that genes influence intelligence or academic ability, that alone does not provide the answer to "What is education?"

About 10 years ago, the god of "evolution" gave me a revelation. I realized that this is the explanatory principle that "explains from the roots" why humans are organisms that learn through education. No animal can survive without learning. Most animals rely on individual learning for this. However, humans, who live by depending on invisible "knowledge" created by the brain, cannot learn it without the help of others. That is the evolutionary origin of education. At the same time, the diversity of abilities provided by genes encourages the creation of diverse adaptive knowledge that individuals cannot achieve alone, and education allows that knowledge to be shared by everyone. For this purpose, the brain brought language, theory of mind, and executive functions to humans. Thinking this way allows for a unified biological understanding of the essence of humans and the essence of education.

My genes and brain may not have been adaptive to the Faculty of Letters, but I cannot help but think it was unmistakably the free intellectual environment of 午夜剧场 that allowed me to conduct my research.

Juko Ando (Author)

Kodansha Gendai Shinsho

280 pages, 840 yen (excluding tax)

*Affiliations and titles are as of the time of publication.