tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-70063912007-08-06T12:23:40.821-07:00PhilosophyMasahiro Moriokahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08134046678099736333noreply@blogger.comBlogger131125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7006391.post-1149186249024214092007-12-30T10:18:00.000-08:002006-06-03T06:49:36.756-07:00New Blog*Masahiro Moriokahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08134046678099736333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7006391.post-1149262763001188242006-06-02T08:37:00.000-07:002006-06-02T08:39:23.003-07:00Protest against Peter SingerFrom Not Dead Yet website:
The following remarks by Emily Smith were made at the protest rally against philosopher Peter Singer's appearance at the University of Minnesota on March 23, 2006.Smith was one of the organizers of the protest.
Thank you all for coming. It's so great to see you here because it's been a rough road to get this thing put together. One day in particular I was really Masahiro Moriokahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08134046678099736333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7006391.post-1149262277904814282006-06-02T08:29:00.000-07:002007-01-17T21:54:31.090-08:00Condoms and ChristianityFrom: Global bioethics blog
When ideology met reality: the Catholic Church on condoms and AIDS
Catholic Online has a sensitive and thoughtful piece on the Catholic Church's position on condom use and the AIDS epidemic in Africa. It is striking that Catholics who live or work in countries with a high AIDS mortality rate seem to be more likely to try to reconcile condom use with Christ's Masahiro Moriokahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08134046678099736333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7006391.post-1149187646134168942006-06-01T11:46:00.000-07:002006-06-01T11:47:26.136-07:00New Eugenics and HarvardFrom: On Harvard...
Do you agree or disagree with the following statement?Coercive eugenics, such as forced sterilization laws, are unjust. But there is nothing wrong with 'liberal eugenics,' understood as voluntary efforts to improve the genetic endowment of future human beings.Agree 72 (62.1%)Disagree 44 (37.9%)
Read more >>
http://ohharvard.blogspot.com/2006/05/views-on-bioethics.html
You Masahiro Moriokahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08134046678099736333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7006391.post-1140952024031627102006-02-26T02:59:00.000-08:002006-02-26T08:25:25.040-08:00Theory of Web Evolution, Web 2.0, life studies as open source (by M)
I am now reading the book, A Theory of Web Evolution (Uwebu Shinkaron), Chikuma Shinsho, 2006, written in Japanese by Mochio Umeda. This book has just been published and is likely to become a bestseller. This is a really interesting book. I am going to write a book review for a local newspaper. Umeda, the author, is an engineer with a Ph.D., and the CEO of the Japanese web company, hatena. He Masahiro Moriokahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08134046678099736333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7006391.post-1140270133036613692006-02-18T05:37:00.000-08:002006-02-19T00:58:19.920-08:00Fundamental sense of security, disappearence of conviction of love (by M)
The paper, "Painless Civilization and Fundamental Sense of Security: A Philosophical Challenge in the Age of Human Biotechnology" has just been published in the web journal, Polylog. I discussed some philosophical problems raised by recent&future human biotechnology, and then I proposed four concepts, such as "problem of disempowerment", "fundamental sense of security", "disappearence of ", and Masahiro Moriokahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08134046678099736333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7006391.post-1139509148978087202006-02-08T18:14:00.000-08:002006-02-09T10:19:08.996-08:00Neuroethics, Gazzaniga, Ethical Brain (by M)
I read Michael Gazzaniga's The Ethical Brain (2005) in Japanese translation, and I wrote a book review for a news agency, which will be published in newspapers later in this month. This is one of the first books that deal with the issues of "neuroethics." Neuroethics is a fairly new word, which was created in 2003 to discuss ethical problems raised by the observation and manipulation of the Masahiro Moriokahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08134046678099736333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7006391.post-1138971269450665402006-02-03T04:50:00.000-08:002006-02-03T04:54:29.463-08:00Taste of whale meat (by M)
I have not posted for more than 10 days because I was busy writing papers last month.
I wrote about whale meat in the previous entry. Last week, I read an interesting article in the Kyodo news (Kyodo, Jan 28 in Japanese). In Japan, whale meat acquired as the result of research whaling can be legally sold, however, the amount of the stock of whale meat has increased, doubles in these ten years. Masahiro Moriokahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08134046678099736333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7006391.post-1137831746597938372006-01-21T00:20:00.000-08:002006-02-03T05:01:45.810-08:00Whale in Thames, eating whale meat, and whaling (by M)
From yesterday the incident of a stray whale in the river Thames in London has been heavily reported live on BBC "world" news. Last week they reported the collision between a Japanese whale catcher boat and Greenpeace boats protesting whaling. It seems to me that the British people are very conscious and sensitive about the issue of whaling. From the BBC site:
"The 16-18ft (5m) northern Masahiro Moriokahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08134046678099736333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7006391.post-1137321118619429852006-01-15T01:58:00.000-08:002006-01-15T02:31:58.680-08:00Sense of happiness and mood-brightening drug (Prozac etc) (by M)
The President's Council led by Leon Kass discusses the topic of "happy souls" in their report Beyond Therapy: Biotechnology and the Pursuit of Happiness (2003). This discussion constitutes, probably, the most significant part of this report. I am not sure who wrote this part. I presume that Kass himself wrote it, but other council members might have written or added something.
They talk about Masahiro Moriokahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08134046678099736333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7006391.post-1136715753642910802006-01-08T02:18:00.000-08:002006-01-15T02:40:23.120-08:00Eternity, immortality, and desire to live longer (by M)
Leon Kass talks about his philosophy of death and aging in his book, Life, Liberty and the Defence of Dignity (2002). He discusses the future possibility of progress in medical technology that may provide us with long life, for example, a longevity of 200 or 300 years or more. He asks whether such longevity, or immortality actually makes us happy, and he answers negatively. He writes as follows:Masahiro Moriokahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08134046678099736333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7006391.post-1136374319436731132006-01-04T03:29:00.000-08:002006-01-04T03:31:59.446-08:00Importance of philosophy of life (by M)
Happy New Year!! I spent most of the new year holidays writing a couple of papers in Japanese, but I have to write two more papers this month. Last month I read some books on genetic enhancement and its impact on future society and individuals. Reading them I have come to think that we need a new "philosophy of life," in which we are able to talk about "wisdom" and a "new way of thinking" Masahiro Moriokahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08134046678099736333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7006391.post-1135357580258516362005-12-23T09:02:00.000-08:002005-12-23T09:06:20.273-08:00Domesticated animals and humans, painless civilization (by M)
It is really cold these days. I am shaking with cold even inside the room. By the way, the translation of the book, Painless Civilization, was resumed with the help of Kenny Gundle. Today, I uploaded the first part of the section 2 "Human Self-domestication." The self-domestication theory insists that humans started to domesticate themselves as soon as they started to domesticate wild animals. Masahiro Moriokahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08134046678099736333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7006391.post-1134756541268065472005-12-15T10:05:00.000-08:002005-12-16T10:11:05.426-08:00Jürgen Habermas, The Future of Human Nature, Die Zukunft der menschlichen Nature (by M)
It is getting colder and colder in Japan. Today I read Die Zukunft der menschlichen Nature: Auf dem Weg zu einer Liberalen Eugenik?, 2001 (The Future of Human Nature) by Jürgen Habermas in Japanese translation. The Japanese translation was made directly from original German. The translated text is not so easy to read because the reader have to know the outline of Habermas's philosophy to date, Masahiro Moriokahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08134046678099736333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7006391.post-1133847972059452892005-12-05T21:43:00.000-08:002006-01-08T02:38:04.346-08:00Retardation of aging, biotechnology, and fear of death (by M)
In the previous entry I talked about the book, Leon kass's (+President's Council on Bioethics) Beyond Therapy: Biotechnology and the Pursuit of Happiness. In the United States, this book might be seen as propaganda from conservative right-wing ethicists backed up by Christian churches. However, in Japan, this book will be welcomed by various researchers and activists regardless of their own Masahiro Moriokahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08134046678099736333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7006391.post-1133111271603724012005-11-27T09:04:00.000-08:002005-12-05T21:48:51.690-08:00Leon Kass, Beyond Therapy, President's Council (by M)
I read the Japanese translation of Leon kass's (+President's Council on Bioethics) Beyond Therapy: Biotechnology and the Pursuit of Happiness, and wrote a book review for a monthly magazine. This is a really interesting book. This report, probably deeply influenced by the philosophy of Leon Kass, casts doubt on some advanced medical technologies which seek to enhance the ability of a baby, Masahiro Moriokahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08134046678099736333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7006391.post-1132754546438203672005-11-23T06:00:00.000-08:002005-11-23T06:05:45.016-08:00Two books on life, death and technology (by M)
I read two books in Japanese translation. The one is Margaret Lock's Encounters With Aging: Mythologies of Menopause in Japan and North America and the other is Leon kass (+President's Council on Bioethics) Beyond Therapy: Biotechnology and the Pursuit of Happiness. Both books were very interesting.
I wrote book reviews of these books in a newspaper and a magazine.
I will write about them inMasahiro Moriokahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08134046678099736333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7006391.post-1131878571751387022005-11-13T02:36:00.000-08:002005-11-13T02:43:51.266-08:00Kinsey, sexual science, and the emptiness after ejaculation (by M)
I have uploaded the translation of the remaining part of Section 1, Chapter 2 of The Insensitive Man. In this part I illustrated how sexual science and sex therapy have ignored the idea of post-ejaculatory emptiness. I think the cause of this neglect should be attributed to Alfred Kinsey. Kinsey realized through his extensive research that there were men who do not feel good after the Masahiro Moriokahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08134046678099736333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7006391.post-1130945602017584492005-11-02T06:25:00.000-08:002005-11-02T07:39:54.036-08:00John Mack at Kyoto and Boston (by M)I happened to visit John mack' homepage and knew that he had been killed by a car on September 27, 2004. It was a little shocking to me because I was thinking of giving him the translation of my Painless Civilization when its first chapter is translated. Wikipedia says as follows:
John Edward Mack, M.D. (October 4, 1929 - Sep 27, 2004), professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and Masahiro Moriokahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08134046678099736333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7006391.post-1129822337164982192005-10-20T07:29:00.000-07:002005-10-21T18:28:04.470-07:00Sempo Sugihara, the Japanese Schindler (by M)
October 11th, the TV drama, Visas for Six Thousand People's Lives: Sempo Sugihara, the Japanese Schindler, was aired on Yomiuri Television. The story was really moving. Sempo (Chiune Senpo) Sugihara was born in 1900 in Gifu Prefecture, Japan. In 1939, Sempo was sent to Lithuania as consul. One morning in 1940, Sempo and his family were surprised at a number of Jewish refugees gathering at the Masahiro Moriokahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08134046678099736333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7006391.post-1129379166809910592005-10-15T05:23:00.000-07:002005-10-15T05:26:06.816-07:00Korean translation of The Insensitive Man from Random House JoonAng (by M)
I have been very busy in preparing for a new class in the fall semester. Yesterday, I received the Korean translation of The Insensitive Man (2005). The translated book was published from Random House JoongAng, on October 1st. The translation was made by Kim Hyojin, who is a Harvard graduate student majoring cultural anthropology. She wrote a detailed analysis and comment for this book, which isMasahiro Moriokahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08134046678099736333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7006391.post-1128438992102000762005-10-04T07:13:00.000-07:002005-10-04T08:23:48.146-07:00Happiness in the age of advanced technology (by M)
Today I will write again about Bill McKibben's Enough: Staying Human in an Engineered Age (Times Books, April 2003. The previous post about this book will be found in the entry of Sep.26). McKibben talks about the enhancement of the IQ of children. Supporters of such technology say that even if it becomes available, parents still have the freedom to choose the enhancement, or not to choose, Masahiro Moriokahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08134046678099736333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7006391.post-1127746879207704662005-09-26T07:00:00.000-07:002005-10-17T04:18:48.603-07:00Bill McKibben, Enough, genetic enhancement (by M)
Today I wrote another book review, a review of Bill McKibben's Enough: Staying Human in an Engineered Age (Times Books, April 2003). The book review will be delivered by the Kyodo Tsushin press agency to many local newspapers around Japan. This book was very interesting. This is my first time to read Bill McKibben's book. A reviewer on Amazon.com writes as follows:
"Unlike McKibben, who seems Masahiro Moriokahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08134046678099736333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7006391.post-1127062508158089252005-09-18T09:51:00.000-07:002005-09-18T09:55:08.166-07:00Donald Richie, Image Factory: Fads & Fashions in Japan (by M)
I read the book, Donald Richie, The Image Factory: Fads & Fashions in Japan. Reaktion Books (May 3, 2004), Photos by Roy Garner, in Japanese translation published last month. This is an interesting book not only for foreigners but Japanese readers who are interested in contemporary Japanese fads and fashions such as manga, pokemon, keitai, Hello Kitty, and others. I wrote a book review of this Masahiro Moriokahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08134046678099736333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7006391.post-1126617462867173422005-09-13T09:02:00.000-07:002006-06-01T23:42:50.380-07:00Feeling of falling into death after ejaculation (by M)
Today, I uploaded the second part of Chapter 2 of The Insensitive man, "Men Who Turn Their Eyes Away from “Male Frigidity”." In this part I talked about the "emptiness after ejaculation" further, and emphasized that it is just like the "feeling of falling" into death."There are two indications as to the frigidity of man. The first is that there is not an immense sense of physical ecstasy in the Masahiro Moriokahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08134046678099736333noreply@blogger.com