Symposium :
"Perspective on Death and Life and Psychology"

September 14, 2003   10:00-12:00 at lecture hall no.1, Economics Research Bldg., The University of Tokyo Co-sponsored : the 67th Annual Convention of the Japanese Psychological Association

The lecture by Prof. Susumu Shimazono , the first presenter and leader of the Death and Life Studies program, was entitled "The Potential of the Psychology of View of Life and Death --- Care and of Practical Knowledge/ Historical Cultural Research /Verifiable Science," Prof. Shimazono began by demonstrating the relationship between Life and Death Studies and Psychology from the perspective of practical care, and further he stressed the importance of developing verifiable research.

Prof. Satoru Kaneko gave a lecture entitled "Religious Feeling and Attitude towards Death," which was based on an analysis of the process and factors involved in the creation of the attitudes that we hold toward death from the perspective of social and religious psychology. Focussing on the concepts of Okage and Tatari and touching upon the views of the Jodo-Shinshu (True Pure Land) sect of Buddhism, Prof. Kaneko inquired into the relationships between religious view and death and life studies.

Next, Prof. Morihiro Sugishita lectured on the phenomenon of life and death from the neurophychological perspective. While making reference to recent research on the relationship between the brain and the mind with respect to the phenomena of out-of-body and near-death experiences, he consciously highlighted the distance between that research and the representative religious discourse and perception, and himself leveled that as a criticism of his work.

Prof. Keiichirou Tsuji presented a lecture entitled "Approach to a Life Perspective --- A Foundational Psychology Approach." When one takes up the question of life and death as the theme of psychological research it means that we do so from the standpoint that we have created from our own varied life experience, and as such Prof. Tsuji provided a working theory on the creation of our view of life and further impressed upon us the importance of the field of psychology.

During the question and answer period following the lectures a lively exchange of opinions occurred on such topics as: the issue of a new style of death in contemporary life and death, and (cultural) relativism, the problem of experiential knowledge of life and death, and introspective knowledge related to the concepts of value and merit, which are intrinsic to death and life studies.

The entire symposium was well received and though many discussions developed and it was a prolific symposium, everyone amended the varied nature of their field's specificity and one could grasp the concreteness of the topics, which was pointed by the moderator, Prof. Yokosawa. This was a symposium at which, due to the melding of heterogeneous research fields, the importance of death and life studies was explored by the participants.