Designing a new style of liberal arts
The Graduate School of Humanities is a new school established at the Izumi Campus (near Meidaimae Station on the Keio Line) in 2008. At the Izumi Campus, freshmen and sophomore students, mainly from humanities-related undergraduate courses, study to acquire a foundation in their specialization as well as a wide-range of liberal arts. In this sense, the Graduate School of Humanities is best suited to this campus.
In general, it is very difficult to clarify a new concept. The Graduate School of Humanities allows us to explore anew and deeply our thoughts on what should be learned at university, transcending the borders of existing academic fields, in order for people to live in peace and happiness.
There is no easy way to clearly explain what liberal arts are. They do not have a clearly defined field such as law, economics, literature, physics, or chemistry. Perhaps we can say that liberal arts encompass all of the academic fields that are taught at university. In English, liberal arts point to “culture.” Culture is a word originally used in contrast to the word “nature.” Its original meaning was to cultivate soil in its natural state in order to grow crops. By cultivating our minds, we too can gain a more fruitful crop.
Design is made up from “de- (below)” and “-sign (to mark),” in other words, it has such meanings as to draw a foundation, to plan, or to envisage. The Graduate School of Humanities aims to envisage and plan the necessary liberal arts for people in the modern day and draw their foundations, based on the three pillars of ethics, philosophy and religion; culture; and peace and the environment.
The school sets the purpose of its research and education as the investigation of humanity and its adequate environment. We offer courses in three research fields: the Ethics, Philosophy, and Religion course, which introduces new speculations in the spiritual field that has been abandoned in the modern society pursuing material wealth; the Culture course, which allows students to distance themselves from familiar viewpoints and review the world from a new perspective; and the Peace and the Environment course, which explores the manner in which we can achieve co-existence and symbiotic relationships in social and natural environments.
These research fields do not stand independently; rather, they are mutually and closely linked. To put these themes together, wide-ranging knowledge and deep insightfulness is essential. While this may be a difficult task, it is also a stimulating, intellectual task that is thrilling. Instead of a problem-solving ability that resolves specific issues, we aim to cultivate a problem-finding ability that cultivates a sustained intellectual curiosity.
In order to engage in comprehensive and interdisciplinary education and research in a variety of specialized fields, we have assembled researchers from various fields of the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Students also undertake various tasks, free from the boundaries of existing academic fields and regardless of their major in their undergraduate studies. Additionally, because we actively welcome international students and working adults, we have attracted a diverse range of students with backbone. Diversity giving birth to new intellectual stimulation is one of the defining characteristics of the Graduate School of Humanities.
Dean, Graduate School of Humanities
OBATA, Yoshikazu
