ホーム >  教員のつぶやき  >  Malcolm's Comment

In the absence of ideas or goals, organizations, people, and societies flounder. Ideas are necessary, but are they always sufficient? As part of my seminar, students are challenged to draw on knowledge from other areas. This is the first step towards being an effective critical thinker. When we draw across contexts, we can critique, which is a critical thinking skill. Critical Thinking is a required course for some students at the Faculty of Social Sciences.

Let's consider how two Japanese values, omotenashi and wabi sabi, may enhance other opportunities or improve existing mindsets.

Omotenashi can be understood as knowing what the customer wants or empathizing with what the other feels without the need to ask. Machines that answer telephones requiring us to press numbers have removed the human from customer service. Presently, at least, machines do not know human emotions. Once we remove omotenashi from the implementation of technologies that involve humans, we risk making technology our masters, and us their slaves. We could easily apply similar thinking to rules and regulations. Kata (form or way of doing something) is great; katai (rigid, hard) is problematic.

Wabi sabi, another Japanese philosophy, may provide interesting ideas to solving climate change and some of our economic troubles. Wabi sabi is difficult to translate - even for Japanese speakers. I have asked many young Japanese to explain it and they have been left wanting for any idea. Although wabi sabi is much about appreciating the transient moment, for simplicity, let me propose that wabi sabi is appreciating beauty in old things. I acknowledge this reduction is crude, but it provides an easy point to move forward. A part of wabi sabi is kintsugi, that is the art of repairing broken or old things with gold. The new repaired thing is often more beautiful and valuable than the original. Wabi sabi seems to run counter to our contemporary fashion and technology trends. Could it be that wabi sabi offers a philosophical guide to help us solve climate change?

It is important for students in my seminar, or those who enroll in my courses, to develop a mindset that seeks to critique and evaluate ideas. The intent is not to refute or reject a proposal as muri (not possible) or muzukashi (difficult), terms which both hold the nuance of shitakunai (not interested in doing something). To critique is to situate ideas in conversation and practice, so possibly better solutions may emerge. I encourage students to teach me and the others their expertise. Without the skills and the thinking, the opportunities may remain distant to most. It is the need to develop mono tsukuri and koto tsukuri.

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