Section 1 : Re-thinking Death and Life Studies from the Perspective of Practical Philosophy

Program Promoter

Human beings are born, and with time, they age, become sick and die. These "four sufferings" as historically known, formulate conditions that are almost impossible to alter for any human being. Death and Life Studies relates to swarms of issues that lay in the silent period between these four sufferings, and as far as these periods are concerned, it also holds significant relationships to problematic conditions that are simultaneously historical and contemporary.

Death and Life Studies concerns itself with the life and death of human beings, and thus reflections on "birth, aging, becoming sick and dying" logically formulates its foundational topic. Furthermore, these "four sufferings" are basic mysteries of the world, and thus reflections and thoughts regarding these issues must become philosophical/ethical. What makes these issues complicated is the interlocking fact that presently, or at least in our society, these "four sufferings" normally all take place inside "medical space." That is to say, medical space is a meeting place where contemporary high technology comes face to face with conditions of life that have not changed historically.

What then is the contemporary "life" that is typified in the medical space? Continuing the above context, I believe that the guiding lines can be located in the fact that the beginning and the end, that is the birth and the death, of human life is being isolated outside of the common social space and are becoming increasingly invisible to most human beings. It can also be put this way: the processes of birth and death of humans themselves are regarded as things outside by the "civil society." Even in bleached and organized life, there is always outside, concrete outside indisputably. For human beings to eat, there must be lives ended (as cows and pigs slaughtered) perpetually. Human beings continue to be born, and await death. It is impossible to speculate when and how one's death might happen.

In an attempt to continue to weave together philosophical/ethical discourses today, it is onerous to establish such a discourse only by looking at the various conditions of human life from the past, without considering the permeation of scientific technology in the landscape of life itself. If we consider the four sufferings as the unchanging conditions of life, then scientific technologies can be thought of as the contemporary constraints of life. In this way, it is possible to regard medical space as the scene where the three elements- life and death of human being, scientific technologies, philosophical/ethical considerations- can intersect. For contemporary ethical and philosophical thoughts, the involvement with Death and Life Studies is ineluctable.

It is hard to say whether what is known as "applied ethics" today practices the process of assessment outlined above. What could be the reason? Dispensing with the necessary procedures for exposition, I argue that it is because bio-ethics itself is not a philosophical discourse yet. Most of the discussions in bio-ethics continue to assume conventional frameworks without thoughtful reflection, which alone should be questioned philosophically. Of course, it is possible that many might refute my proposal and say that there is no time for "philosophical" discussion in the face of urgent topics, or that the problem is how to voice our thoughts now. However, if that is the case, the discussion can no longer be "ethics," for ethics understands value outside of "usefulness." Further, such a discussion can neither be a "philosophical" discourse, for philosophy questions things that are "taken for granted."

As the first section of this research project, we aim to provide the principal/philosophical foundation to the newly formulated Death and Life Studies based on the interests outlined above. While learning from the recent distinctive currents of bio-ethics in Germany and France, which began by encountering American style bio-ethics, we will also base our study on the particular history and present situation of our country. In this way, our goal should also become part of an attempt to cast about for Death and Life Studies in a Japanese style.

KUMANO Sumihiko