Profiles

Assistant Professor MORIKAWA Tamon

Affiliations :

  • Graduate School Faculty of Arts and Letters
  • Computer Room

Looking into the information that shapes people

Our current reality is pervaded with highly developed systems and replete with freely circulating information. As technological innovations rush forward, the amount of information a regular person comes across throughout their life increases dramatically.
A paradox arises: our actions are based on information obtained, but our lifetime is limited, so at some point we are forced to sift through information, ignoring the unnecessary parts. Thus you know that by pressing a button on your smartphone you can exchange information, but you use this function without understanding the technology behind it.
The same applies to verbal expressions and knowledge. For instance, “the state of Japan” is the basis of Japanese society, yet when people use this expression in everyday life, they do not reflect upon the exact meaning of words “Japan” or “state” — both terms are treated as self-evident.
We need to improve the way we handle words and knowledge, to cultivate a literacy of sorts. Otherwise we risk facing consequences more serious than being added to someone’s friend list without knowing. It is, after all, knowledge and speech that makes an individual. In my research I aim to develop a new look on the formation processes of both in modern times.

  • Research, History
  • Books, papers, etc.
  • Courses
    General Education: The Intellectual History of Modern Japan
    Personal History
    Finished Shizuoka Prefectural Shizuoka Higashi High School
    Graduated from the Faculty of Engineering, Chiba Institute of Technology; the Faculty of Arts and Letters, Tohoku University
    Received a Ph.D. in literature at the Division of Humane Studies, Graduate School of Arts and Letters, Tohoku University

    Career:
    Full-time Lecturer, Tongmyong University
    Current position
    Degree
    Ph.D. (Literature)
    Field
    Modern History of Ethics
    Research Subject
    Identity and religion in modern Japan (2005-present)
    Keywords
    Nation state, faith; identity
    Affiliation
    Association of Japanese Intellectual History; The Japanese Society for Ethics; Japanese Association for Religious Studies
    Database of Researchers Information
    http://db.tohoku.ac.jp/whois/detail/8dc40bdc24924576bf8879ab122ffd81.html
  • Academic Papers
    ・南原繁の秩序意識」、『日本思想史研究』44号、日本思想史研究会、2012
    ・博士論文「二〇世紀初頭における「個人」と「集団」の思想――旧制第一高等学校に思想形成した人々の「集団」へのもどり方」、東北大学大学院文学研究科、2012
    ・「天野貞祐の規範意識」、『日本思想史学』42号、日本思想史学会、2010、176-196
    ・「安倍能成の「個人主義」」、『東北亜文学研究』19号、東北アジア文学学会(韓国)、2009