In this paper, I present some preliminary reconsiderations on the interconnection between Nishida Kitarō’s later logic and his political philosophy. These reconsiderations will form the core of an essay in which I intend to use Karatani Kōjin’s remarks concerning a certain “Leibniz-syndrome” in twentieth-century political thought as a starting point for a more in-depth inquiry into Nishida’s philosophy, as an expression of the contradictions and aporias of global capitalist modernity.

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:What Does It Mean to "Speak Truth to Power"?Christian UhlPolitical Philosophy in Japan: Nishida, the Kyoto School, and Co-Prosperity. By Christopher S. Goto-Jones. London and New York: Routledge, 2005. Pp. 192.Ever since the end of the "Great East Asian War" in Japan a debate has been smoldering over the contamination of philosophy by politics. This debate was sparked by a series of writings through which the "father of (...) Japanese philosophy," Nishida Kitarō (1870-1945), and some thinkers affiliated with him—the so-called Kyoto School—became involved in the politics connected with the war to establish a "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere." The debate over Nishida and the Kyoto School has repeatedly been overshadowed by the debate over Heidegger. Aside from the strategic considerations of those engaged in the prosecution of the Kyoto School, one reason for the "Heidegger factor"1 may have something to do with the fact that philosophical parallels can indeed be drawn between Nishida and Heidegger, and that there are also direct links between Nishida and some of his disciples who studied in Germany. Questions concerning Heidegger's political engagement are still explosive, even twenty years after Farias' attempt to prove Heidegger's entanglement with National Socialism. The publication of Emmanuel Faye's book Heidegger—L'introduction du nazisme dans la philosophie has fired up the debate in French philosophical circles.2 And in the debate concerning Nishida and the Kyoto School there is also recent news: the publication of Christopher S. Goto-Jones' ambitious study Political Philosophy in Japan: Nishida, the Kyoto School, and Co Prosperity."Every inquiry," Heidegger says, "is a seeking [Suchen]. Every seeking gets guided beforehand by what is sought for."3 Goto-Jones' inquiry seeks to explain the nature of Nishida's political engagement in the 1930s and 1940s, and his inquiry is guided by the conviction that Nishida should be exonerated from the charges regarding his alleged complicity with a Japanese wartime regime that was at least militarist if not "fascist." However, the declared intention of Goto-Jones' study is not just another exoneration of Nishida. Goto-Jones contends that Nishida, influenced "particularly [by] Kant" (p. 7), has left behind a still relevant political philosophy that, as some other authors have argued,4 is not only not tainted by any form of narrow-minded nationalism but also provides a philosophical framework for a theory of a globalizing, multicentered, intercultural world:Hence, for Nishida, the nation should not be a rigid institutional structure or an artificially... constructed culture, but rather a moral personality formed through the mutual self-determination [End Page 469] determination of its constituents and in a dynamic relationship with other nations. International relations should be characterized by the development of greater levels of unity, as nations creatively interact with each other, producing public goods and increasing the similarities in their personalities, thus decreasing the salience of their national boundaries. In this model, nationalism, like egoism, becomes a nonsense.(p. 134 n)This political model is what Goto-Jones seeks to recover in Nishida, and this recovery is "what is really intended" (Heidegger) by his book.5Nishida's political philosophy needs to be recovered, because it is buried under false accusations and misunderstandings, produced primarily by Nishida's detractors, whose criticism, as Goto-Jones suggests, is in most cases at best based on a rough selection of citations, torn out of the coherence of their original context. Nishida's defenders, on the other hand, have attempted to safeguard the philosopher against the arguments of his critics by simply calling him a "liberal," a seemingly agreeable but in fact rather misleading label. Furthermore, Nishida's defenders have based their arguments only on biographical material, diary entries, letters, and so on. While the apologists "are right to observe a contradiction between... [Nishida's] private condemnation of the regime and his apparent public complicity, this is not in itself enough to conclude that his public writings meant the opposite of what they seem to say" (p. 4).In fact, this conclusion by Nishida's apologists does raise certain questions. Why did Nishida never give vent to his divergent opinions? Should he not rather have remained... (shrink)

_English summary:_ How do dialectics serve the purpose of integrating Christian dogmas into the philosophical discourse of the early dialogues? In this study Tobias Uhle presents an analysis of Augustine's dialectical, that is logical, argumentation in the Cassiciacum dialogues ( _Contra Academicos_, _De beata vita_, _De ordine_, and _Soliloquia_, including _De immortalitate animae_ ). Augustine's arguments rest, at first, solely on pagan philosophical premises while specifically Christian concepts remain unseen or at least hidden in the background. By (...) means of dialectical techniques Augustine finally manages to present Christian solutions to the issues discussed in the dialogues. In particular, Augustine deliberately eliminates pagan premises or skilfully Christianizes them. Thus, dialectics enables Augustine to establish Christian faith as a substantial alternative to pagan philosophy._ German description:_ Wie integriert Augustin in den Fruhdialogen mit Hilfe logischer Schlussverfahren christliche Lehrsatze in den philosophischen Diskurs? Tobias Uhle untersucht Augustins dialektische, das heisst logische, Argumentation in den Cassiciacum-Dialogen ( _Contra Academicos_, _De beata vita_, _De ordine_ und _Soliloquia_, inklusive _De immortalitate animae_ ). Obwohl Augustins Argumentation zunachst ausschliesslich von pagan-philosophischen Pramissen ausgeht und spezifisch Christliches unsichtbar bzw. im Hintergrund bleibt, werden am Ende der Dialoge christliche Losungen fur die jeweils diskutierten Probleme prasentiert. Dies wird insbesondere durch die gezielte Eliminierung paganer Pramissen und deren geschickte Christianisierung erreicht. Somit dient die Dialektik Augustin dazu, die christliche Glaubenslehre als ernst zu nehmendes Konkurrenzsystem zur paganen Philosophie zu etablieren. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Going to our Happy Place: Idealism, Realism, and Nishida's Eutopia: A Response to Christian UhlChristopher S. Goto-JonesWords can be tricky things; their significance is often found in unexpected places. The word 'utopia,' for example, is usually considered to have originated in the early sixteenth century in Louvain when Thomas More fused two Greek words (ou, 'not,' and topos, 'place'). The result was a new, Greek-sounding compound, utopia, translatable (...) as 'Noplace.' Apparently, it was a small, newly discovered island where people did things differently from Europeans. By a happy coincidence, utopia was almost homophonous with another Greek compound, eutopia, which might be translated as 'Happyplace.' The word has come to be used to describe models of nonexistent societies that are imagined to be better than the ones in which we live.In his stimulating, thorough, and carefully crafted review of my recent book, Political Philosophy in Japan: Nishida, the Kyoto School, and Co-Prosperity, Christian [End Page 482] Uhl makes a great deal of my claim that Nishida's political project was utopian. He also takes issue with my characterization of Nishida as a political idealist. In the interests of clarification and in the spirit of engaged debate, I think that it is important to consider what these important (and often complicated) terms mean. In particular, the idea that 'idealist' and 'utopian' are coterminous should not be allowed to stand unchallenged. In a related way, it may be helpful to clarify what is meant by 'realist' in political thought, since Uhl claims that, far from being an idealist, Nishida was actually a realist "in a very fundamental sense of the word."Uhl is quite right to observe that I identify Nishida's political scheme as utopian in the sense that he provides a model of an ideal society as a means of demonstrating the problems in the society in which he lived.1 However, when it comes to the effectiveness of Nishida's utopian vision qua dissent in wartime Japan (or simply qua practice), the key problem slides from being utopianism itself to idealism. A utopia is an ideal society; the method required to realize that society is not necessarily part of the vision itself, although it may be implied in the structure. Consider a socialist utopia: for Marx, the road to this perfect society was paved by historical materialism; for a number of other socialists (including many Japanese socialists), the route to a broadly similar society was defined in humanist or even idealist terms. In a rather casual sense we might label the later Marx a realist and, say, Kawakami Hajime as an idealist. Nishida's utopia is no simpler,2 although it does, in fact, contain a sense of process: it is defined as a type of self-realization and it is premised upon an underlying faith in the power of the mind to transform both the self and the everyday world.I would contend that Nishida was an idealist (a thinker who works on the principle that the reality in which we live is somehow mind-correlative), although not a simple idealist, and also a political utopian. A number of his students, for example Nishitani and Kōyama, broadly shared their mentor's goals but differed in their construction of the paths to them. The quotation from Nishitani that Uhl selects reveals this clearly: he argues that if we do not "have both feet firmly grounded in the consciousness of the past as well as in the practice of the present, any idea will remain a mere concept, a utopian ideal."3 Nishitani is not taking issue with the utopia; he is challenging the process appropriate to its realization. He argues (in common with many of the other second-generation members of the Kyoto School) that an idealist philosophy that pays no attention to the significance of history can offer no blueprints for the achievement of its ideals in reality. The implied challenge to Nishida's thought here is to his understanding of the forces of historical change: idealist self-power (jiriki) is laid bare as ahistorical and inadequate as an engine for social change. Having said that, however, Nishitani does not make... (shrink)

People sometimes behave differently depending on whether they are interacting online (by email, social media, etc.) vs. interacting in person. Four studies test the hypothesis that when an agent’s behavior is different online vs. in person, people think that the online behavior is less reflective of who the agent truly is deep down. Study 1 found that the very same behavior is regarded as less reflective of the true self when it is performed online. Study 2 showed that this effect (...) is not merely a matter of perceived impression management. Study 3 found that there is a general tendency such that behavior is seen as more reflective of the true self when it is performed in an environment regarded as “natural.” In Study 4, a manipulation that led participants to see online behavior as more natural had a downstream effect on the degree to which this behavior was seen as reflecting the true self. Taken together, these results suggest that people’s judgments about online behavior are not simply a reflection of idiosyncratic facts about the online sphere in particular but are instead driven in part by a far more general psychological process involving perceptions of naturalness. (shrink)

Hundreds of millions of users interact with large language models (LLMs) regularly to get advice on all aspects of life. The increase in LLMs’ logical capabilities might be accompanied by unintended side effects with ethical implications. Focusing on recent model developments of ChatGPT, we can show clear evidence for a systematic shift in ethical stances that accompanied a leap in the models’ logical capabilities. Specifically, as ChatGPT’s capacity grows, it tends to give decisively more utilitarian answers to the two most (...) famous dilemmas in ethics. Given the documented impact that LLMs have on users, we call for a research focus on the prevalence and dominance of ethical theories in LLMs as well as their potential shift over time. Moreover, our findings highlight the need for continuous monitoring and transparent public reporting of LLMs’ moral reasoning to ensure their informed and responsible use. (shrink)

Teaching experiments are valuable when it comes to sensitizing students for business ethics that addresses the behavior of agents in modern societies. Many students are coined by the often predominantly individualistic ethical reasoning that they are accustomed to from their living environments. In our classes, we confront them with the volatility of their own ethical behavior by the use of experiments that ideally work with real incentives. We believe experiments to be a powerful tool not only to illustrate theoretical concepts, (...) but also to make students experience the compulsion of economic incentives first-hand. This may lead to the insight that one is more prone to the contingencies of the situation than expected. Experiments may make students question their own behavior and re-evaluate the implementability of their moral ideals - as consumers, citizens and managers. (shrink)

This article presents an integrative, analytic, and interactive approach to explaining corruption. We find that extant research, while empirically rich, often lacks grounding on the micro level of analysis, operates on unspecified or implausible decision-making models, does not clearly distinguish between proximal and distal causes, and does not attempt to study the interactions between individual propensities and corruption-conducive settings (situational analysis). The theoretical traditions of rational choice and culture provide insight into some but not all corrupt acts, and are limited (...) in the extent to which they explain why and how an individual chooses to act corruptly. Drawing on analytic criminology, we propose situational action theory (SAT) as an alternative explanation of corruption as moral action that forefronts rule guidance, conditional relevance of controls, and the interplay of people and settings. This conceptual framework will allow researchers to build on existing empirical work while distinguishing causes of corruption from its mere correlates. The article concludes with some reflections on bridging the gap between situational theory and empirical research into corruption. (shrink)

La multiplication sur Internet des dispositifs « interactifs » interroge les enjeux et les principes des nouvelles formes de communication qui envahissent les systèmes techniques contemporains. La banalisation et la généralisation de ces agencements machiniques remettent en question les frontières traditionnelles entre l’image et le réel, le regard et l’écran, le sens et le message, le sujet et le monde, le public et le privé, le pouvoir et la captation, la présence et l’absence, le désir et le manque...The increasing number (...) of « interactive » devices on Internet addresses the question of the stakes and principles linked to the new forms of communication invading contemporary technical systems. The trivialization and extension of these tools are a challenge to the standard boundary line between images and reality, the viewer and the screen, meaning and message, the individual and the world, the public and private spheres, power and addiction, presence and absence, desire and need.. (shrink)

Dieses Buch untersucht, ausgehend von einer der bedeutendsten technikphilosophischen Positionen der deutschen Nachkriegsmoderne, die diffizile Interaktion von aktueller Kultur und Technik. Die Beiträge diskutieren die faktische Aktualität des Wissenschaftlers und Avantgardisten Max Bense im Computerzeitalter, um die Relevanz von Konzepten wie „technische Existenz“, „Technizität“ und „ästhetischer Zustand“ zu verstehen und zu überprüfen. Immer noch erscheint die Arbeit an einem Theorieentwurf zu dem, was man ‚Informationsgesellschaft‘ oder ‚Postindustrialismus‘ nennt, notwendig. Dabei geht es nicht zuletzt um die Reflexion auf das Bild, das (...) sich der Mensch unter hochtechnologischen Bedingungen über sich selbst und seine Welt macht. (shrink)

Experimental studies on preferences towards human and robot agents in instrumental dilemmas suggest that people have higher utilitarian preferences for machines than for humans. However, these studies give participants only two options for the agent: either a utilitarian action or omission. It, thus, remains unclear whether a higher share of utilitarian preferences means that people become more utilitarian when considering robot agents or whether they just grant a human more leeway for omission. This study aims to disentangle these effects in (...) two ways: first, by offering an alternative actionable choice, and second, by connecting the utilitarian outcome with an omission. Results suggest that people become, in fact, more utilitarian-minded, when considering their moral preferences for machines. (shrink)

We explore aversion to the use of algorithms in moral decision-making. So far, this aversion has been explained mainly by the fear of opaque decisions that are potentially biased. Using incentivized experiments, we study which role the desire for human discretion in moral decision-making plays. This seems justified in light of evidence suggesting that people might not doubt the quality of algorithmic decisions, but still reject them. In our first study, we found that people prefer humans with decision-making discretion to (...) algorithms that rigidly apply exogenously given human-created fairness principles to specific cases. In the second study, we found that people do not prefer humans to algorithms because they appreciate flesh-and-blood decision-makers per se, but because they appreciate humans’ freedom to transcend fairness principles at will. Our results contribute to a deeper understanding of algorithm aversion. They indicate that emphasizing the transparency of algorithms that clearly follow fairness principles might not be the only element for fostering societal algorithm acceptance and suggest reconsidering certain features of the decision-making process. (shrink)

The transfer of tasks with sometimes far-reaching implications to autonomous systems raises a number of ethical questions. In addition to fundamental questions about the moral agency of these systems, behavioral issues arise. We investigate the empirically accessible question of whether the imposition of harm by an agent is systematically judged differently when the agent is artificial and not human. The results of a laboratory experiment suggest that decision-makers can actually avoid punishment more easily by delegating to machines than by delegating (...) to other people. Our results imply that the availability of artificial agents could provide stronger incentives for decision-makers to delegate sensitive decisions. (shrink)

MYC proteins are potent oncoproteins that drive tumorigenesis in a wide range of cancers, making it critical to understand their oncogenic functions and underlying mechanisms. Although MYC overexpression induces transcriptional and replication‐associated stress, recent studies have paradoxically identified MYC as a key resilience factor that protects cancer cells from these stressors. In this review, we explore the dual role of MYC in both driving and mitigating cellular stress to achieve its oncogenic function. We also examine how MYC‐induced transcriptional and replicative (...) stress generates potentially immunogenic nucleic acid species while simultaneously helping cancer cells evade host immune recognition. We propose a model in which MYC plays a critical role in managing the stress it induces, thereby maintaining a balance that promotes tumor growth. Based on this model, we discuss potential therapeutic strategies targeting MYC‐dependent stress responses, offering new avenues for cancer treatment and highlighting the complexity of MYC‐driven oncogenesis. (shrink)

People sometimes behave differently depending on whether they are interacting online (by email, social media, etc.) vs. interacting in person. Four studies test the hypothesis that when an agent’s behavior is different online vs. in person, people think that the online behavior is less reflective of who the agent truly is deep down. Study 1 found that the very same behavior is regarded as less reflective of the true self when it is performed online. Study 2 showed that this effect (...) is not merely a matter of perceived impression management. Study 3 found that there is a general tendency such that behavior is seen as more reflective of the true self when it is performed in an environment regarded as “natural.” In Study 4, a manipulation that led participants to see online behavior as more natural had a downstream effect on the degree to which this behavior was seen as reflecting the true self. Taken together, these results suggest that people’s judgments about online behavior are not simply a reflection of idiosyncratic facts about the online sphere in particular but are instead driven in part by a far more general psychological process involving perceptions of naturalness. (shrink)

We examine people’s attitudes toward AI-based algorithms as a means to allocate scarce resources. Through a vignette experiment, we confront respondents with five scenarios in which an AI-based algorithm allocates various goods and ask them if they find this morally desirable. We compare people’s moral attitudes toward AI with their attitudes toward a friend, a waiting list, a lottery, and the market. Our results show that people rank allocations through AI as morally clearly less desirable than most alternatives. This is (...) especially true for goods that are nonessential to a person’s survival. One potential explanation for the identified algorithm aversion is that AI is considered more opaque than its alternatives, and that an allocation mechanism’s moral rejection increases if its working is less well understood. Together, our results suggest that using AI to allocate resources, especially nonessential ones, is likely to meet substantial social resistances. To understand the reasons, researchers should systematically study laypeople’s moral intuitions about algorithms, a field we call folk algorithmics. (shrink)

Commodification is the process of transforming goods or services traditionally transferred without charge into commercially exchangeable commodities. Critics argue that this transformation often entails the loss of inherent value, rendering the resulting transactions morally problematic. In contrast, proponents of commodification contend that if it is morally acceptable to give something away for free, it should likewise be permissible to transfer it in exchange for money. Despite the extensive academic debate surrounding the moral implications of commodification, there remains a significant lack (...) of empirical research on how laypeople perceive and evaluate this phenomenon. Given that policies supporting or opposing commodification are frequently influenced by public attitudes, addressing this gap is of critical importance. To this end, we conducted four online experiments to systematically examine the folk ethics of commodification. Our findings indicate a pronounced anti-commodification attitude across a range of specific contexts, an attitude that remains robust to several variations. Anti-commodification attitudes in specific contexts, however, erode when people are first asked to reflect on the general legitimacy of commodification. In contrast, their approval of this general legitimacy is weakened when they are first asked to evaluate specific cases. These latter results should sensitize educators that a case-based approach to the moral limits of markets might induce different normative conclusions than a principled approach. (shrink)