Experiences of students

2021年度 NJE3

Online Introduction

BESPALOV Ilia

School of Arts and Humanities, Far Eastern Federal University, Master1

Period:7th December 2020~18th December 2020
FY2020 RJE3 Basic Subjects Introduction (online)

This internship interested me as soon as I heard about it from the head of my Department. He told me that Hokkaido University is recruiting Russian students to discuss interdisciplinary issues. Moreover, everything happens in Japanese, and I am professionally engaged in Eastern philosophy. By the way, a little about philosophy. What distinguishes philosophy from other Sciences? Our specialization is aimed at the realization of the interaction of cultures. The philosophy formulates the main areas of mutual understanding. People of all cultures have an inner understanding of truth, art, justice. Philosophy reflects on the zones of interaction. Other humanitarian spheres of science deal only with specific features. The task of philosophy is to analyse the most General concepts of different cultures. Therefore, it is better to send a philosopher for an internship. A philosopher can understand both science and international relations better than anyone else. So, my opinion:  if you are going to study another culture, study its basic internal structure, not some specific moments. Moreover, only philosophers have interdisciplinary methods that are relevant in the era of globalization and post-science. Japan is been called unknown and mysterious, that’s because of the unique way of understanding the world. As a philosopher, I note a fundamentally different type of thinking associated with the Japanese aesthetical pattern. Japanese aesthetic pattern is a special paradigm of world vision characteristic of Japan. Unlike any other cultural paradigms, the core of Japanese paradigm is not ontology (or cosmology), not ethics, but aesthetics. This phenomenon interested me, and I’ve been studying it for 2 years. Returning to the question of the internship itself, to be honest, I must say that I am not too happy with the online format. The fact is that live communication is lost, and the existential component is lost. In any case, it was a necessary measure, for the sake of safety. I am very happy that the organizers of the program take care of our health. By the way, the online format does not interfere with the assimilation of the material! For this, I must say a huge thank you to the professors who kindly recorded their lectures for us. I was really interested to learn new things from the sphere of design, history, anthropology, urban studies and history! I regret that I did not have the opportunity to communicate with such high-level professionals in person, but I still appreciate their contribution.

I hope this isn’t my last internship to Japan University. Now, I am studding neuro and cognitive science. I consider aesthetic and ethical experience within the framework of neurophilosophy. My research is based, among other things, on the developments of Japanese scientists. I believe that my future will relate to the work of Japanese researchers.  ありがとう、すぐに会いましょう!