「世界の市民」パラダイムの可能性 : 桃山学院大学の「建学の精神」の解釈と応用

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Without doubt, what education in the coming era should be has alwaysbeen one of the highest priority problems that the people in the field havetried to answer since the second half of the last century. However, anapproach in the sense of" put new wine into new wineskins" would lead toa failure to see the most of the problem. What is essential in answeringsuch a question is, as Reinhold Niebuhr said, to use necessary andsufficient doses of "the grace to accept with serenity the things thatcannot be changed, the courage to change the things that should bechanged and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other." Then, wemay and must ask to ourselves what the wisdom, grace and courage ineducational reform should be. In all the aspects of the past educational reforms, it looks as if thewisdom, grace and courage were severed from each other. Viewing themas such better explains the backgrounds of the often-seen change of thegrace into postponement of decisions and that of the courage into rushingdecisions. The platform on which we can rally the grace and courage isthe wisdom. The wisdom in the educational reform relates, naturally, tothe approach to and understanding of the import and object of educationin the society, and it must be based on a certain educational philosophy orideal.Here, it is necessary to take into consideration a generic educationalphilosophy as well as a specific one, or a commonly shared one and aunique one of each educational institution, in a multilayered andcomprehensive manner. Let us consider what the most common expressionof the educational philosophy would be. The following words of AlfredNorth Whitehead give a good reference: "What education is all about is asingle subject: although expressed in various ways, simply put, it is life.You may teach algebra, geometry, science or history, but it is of no avail… unless it is combined with the single unity of experience, life." Inaddition, we must also consider the general educational philosophy ofcollege education as distinguished from primary- and high-school education.The educational philosophy of college education has so far been understoodfrom the following three viewpoints: the relationship between researchand education; that between liberal-arts education and specialist education;and that between an academic institution and the society, the thirdattracting rushing emphasis lately. The above three viewpoints correspondto the three philosophical coordinate systems that Yuichi Shionoya calledthe German, British and American philosophies, respectively. What ischaracteristic these days is that, as seen with the so-called academicindustrialcooperation, the relation between an academic institution andthe society is discussed placing emphasis only on the practical utility ofthe former (or academic education) for the latter, and this trendaccelerates the change in focus from liberal-arts education to specialisteducation and that from research to education. Such changes seem to leadto an educational philosophy oriented to living in a short-circuited andnearsighted manner. However, when they are not exclusive of each otherbut are in a dynamic balance keeping tense relations between them, thethree philosophical coordinate systems, and the two coordinate axes thatcompose each of the three as well, form foundations of educationalactivities through which students understand the meaning of life, andacquire and work out its methods and means. How to achieve such a balance between the coordinate systems thatprovides the foundations of educational activities is, naturally, differentPossibility of Paradigm of" Citizens of World"depending on social and historical backgrounds, but what is of decisiveimportance is the subjective viewpoint of each academic institution, theagent of educational activities. The viewpoint of each academic institutionis based on its founding spirit and educational philosophy; the social andhistorical backgrounds are interpreted from the viewpoint of eachinstitution, but sometimes there may be cases where the spirit andphilosophy of an academic institution are re-interpreted in view of thesocial and historical situations from time to time. It is through suchdynamic processes that the wisdom is cultivated, the wisdom that enablesthe grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed andthe courage to change the things that should be changed. We have tounderstand once again that philosophical flexibility is an essential factor inenhancing our educational capability and responsibility, just as moralflexibility is essential for cultivating moral faculty. However, in order that the founding spirit and educational philosophyform a truly coordinated wisdom and serve as an intellectual frameworkthat fosters educational and research activities oriented toward life and asa coordinate system that yields such activities, as stated above, it isnecessary that the educational philosophy of an academic institution beshared by every constituent member, and further, widely publicized toobtain sympathy of the society. This will require, in the first place, theformation of a framework that encourages every constituent member ofan academic institution to interpret its founding spirit and educationalphilosophy and discuss about them in a morally flexible atmosphere. Therefore, an object of this paper is to clarify the meaning of life, whichrelates to the philosophy of education in its very basis, through theinterpretation of the founding spirit and educational philosophy ofMomoyama Gakuin University. Another object is to prospect thepossibility of forming an intellectual framework, or a paradigm, thatindicates an approach to how to achieve the balance between the threephilosophical coordinate systems of academic education and cultivateeducational and research activities oriented toward life. Since theeducational philosophy of the University is to foster" citizens of the world"on the basis of the spirit of Christianity, the ultimate object of this paper isto indicate the possibility of a paradigm of" citizens of the world".
桃山学院大学の論文
2006-03-20

「世界の市民」パラダイムの可能性 : 桃山学院大学の「建学の精神」の解釈と応用

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