午夜剧场

A defining feature of SFC is the seminar (Kenkyukai) system. I operate my seminar as a place where students pursue their interests through the lens of the faculty member's expertise. This is my third year since arriving at the Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, and we currently have 35 members.

Being in the field of university education, the challenges facing society emerge multi-dimensionally through the generation in their 20s. What I feel particularly during discussions with students in seminars is the difference between thoughts based on the students' own real-life experiences and thoughts based on information acquired as knowledge.

Neuroscientist Dr. Antonio Damasio stated that emotions and feelings can arise not only based on sensory input to the body but also based on body representations within the brain. He points out in his book "Descartes' Error" that the reason for having body representations in the brain is to enable rapid future predictions based on those representations—something that cannot be done solely through an understanding of the current situation based on bodily sensations.

If knowledge based on one's own real-life experience is obtained through sensory input to the body, then information transmitted by others corresponds to "body representation in the brain" type knowledge, acquired as if it were a real experience. Such knowledge can be acquired quickly because it does not require actual experience. However, the weight or lightness of the meaning held by that knowledge is nothing more than a "prediction." I have the impression that discussions based on such "as-if experiences" tend to be more superficial compared to discussions based on real-life experiences. Because modern people are exposed to massive amounts of information through diverse information channels, processing that information can sometimes become the goal itself. When this happens, I feel that people sometimes engage in discussions based on predictions from "body representations in the brain" without tasting the weight of the collected information with their own bodies. Discussions without a "gut feeling" lack weight and warmth in the words spoken, even if something is being said.

In my seminar, I try to ensure that each member sets their individual research theme based on experiences that "pierced their heart" or "moved them deeply." This is because a research theme not based on real-life experience may be rational to the body representation in the brain of the person involved, but it will cause a sense of discomfort to the body, which is the seat of life. One cannot continue research where the body continues to rebel through gut feelings, and the person will likely not find it enjoyable. I believe that research should go where the heart cries out, and that heart is shaped by the body.