Ethics of Altruism, Care, and Wounds: Philosophy for Reliving the "Self"
Writer Profile
Yuta Chikauchi
Other : Educator, Philosophy ResearcherÎçÒ¹¾ç³¡ alumni
Yuta Chikauchi
Other : Educator, Philosophy ResearcherÎçÒ¹¾ç³¡ alumni
Why do people pass each other by? Why do feelings of consideration for others end up being in vain and sometimes hurt them? It is because we misjudge the hearts of others.
This book defines care as "valuing together what that other person values." It approaches the concept of care by shifting the concept of the other to "a subject whose values are different from my own."
The other, or "the person who is not me," is not like me. They do not feel as I feel, and they do not perceive the world as I perceive it. They grasp the same event as a completely different event. Our hearts are different. That is why we misunderstand the hearts of others.
Why does such a thing happen? It is because the modern era is an age of diversity. In an age of diversity, the things each subject values are out of alignment. And when those precious things are lost or damaged, we are hurt. Such memories of wounds diversify a person's patterns of behavior and perception. The environments in which we were raised are different, and our values are different. This means that the "things we value" and our "wounds" are different for every single person.
In contrast, imagine the environment in which Homo sapiens lived tens of thousands of years ago. There, drinking water, food, play, or the land, the views on life and death and spiritual beliefs unique to that region, and various other "precious things" must have been shared within the community. In other words, unlike modern city dwellers, the things people valued and their wounds would not have differed from person to person. Based on the arguments of evolutionary biologist Robin Dunbar and research into the lifestyles of modern hunter-gatherers, the prevailing theory is that the Homo sapiens of the past lived in communities of several dozen people (at most around 150). Our bodies and minds evolved to adapt to such an environment.
Civilization arose, city life began, and the "other" was born. And then, we became unable to provide care effectively. This is a theory of care written from such a sense of the problem. To reclaim care once again. To still provide care, even in an age of diversity.
Yuta Chikauchi
Shobunsha
304 pages, 1,980 yen (tax included)
*Affiliations and titles are as of the time this magazine was published.