Hiroshi YOSHIDA
Cultural Resources Studies, Professor
I am aiming to bring back the term “aesthetics,” for which the translation “aesthetic beauty” has been employed, to its original meaning, to “start again” as a “study of sensitivities.” If we are to say that the subjects for study in “aesthetic beauty” are beauty and art, then aesthetics, as a “study of sensitivities” is the philosophical study of movements in human sensitivities in association with related sciences such as cognitive science and engineering. Therein lie the reasons why I have engaged in recent years in research on computer and video games. In today’s world, where technology and the media continue to change at dizzying speeds, what are the types of changes that our sensitivities undergo? When we consider that, it is games that offer the most familiar and effective case studies. What are the types of worlds that a player experiences in a game? I consider and analyze the issue with an all-out combination of the latest in semiotics and narrative theory, psychology, cognitive science, engineering, and the social sciences. This is where I can fully leverage my experience of having majored in the arts (musicology in particular) through my doctorate program.
Moreover, ultimate concern, which I can describe as being my lifework, consists of “the power of imagination” and “freedom” among human beings and the association between the two, for which the study of games is an important step.