At the Threshold of Philosophy

2022/12/23

Until now, I have written books with the intention of conducting "independent research for adults"—an adult version of the independent research projects children do for summer vacation homework. In "The Mind-Brain Problem," I explored neuroscience; in "Unreasonable Evolution," evolutionary theory; and in "Human Anatomy is the Key to Monkey Anatomy," life sciences and cognitive science.

This summer, however, I ended up publishing a slightly different kind of book titled "At the Threshold of Philosophy."

In this book, instead of researching the work of distinguished experts, I challenged myself to use my own mundane experiences as the subject of analysis. If independent research and picture diaries are the two pillars of the summer homework industry, this is, so to speak, an "adult's picture diary."

Perhaps because it was based on a magazine series, I fortunately didn't experience much of the pains of creation (having already suffered enough during the serialization), but there was one thing that bothered me until the very end: the issue of writing style (sentence endings).

"At the Threshold of Philosophy" is structured by alternating between personal anecdote sections, where I recount my own observations and experiences, and analytical sections, where I examine them with the help of scholars and writers. After much trial and error, I decided to write the anecdote sections in the "da/dearu" style and the analytical sections in the "desu/masu" style.

What troubled me slightly was that I couldn't shake the doubt: "Shouldn't it normally be the other way around?" Generally, the "da/dearu" style is considered objective, while the "desu/masu" style is considered subjective. I worried that this book might be doing the opposite. This doubt continued to smolder even after publication.

My savior in this regard was Masahiro Hirao's "Philosophy from the Japanese Language: Why You Must Not Write Academic Papers in 'Desu/Masu'" (Shobunsha), which was released a month after my book.

In the book, Hirao argues that the "da/dearu" style is a closed principle that exists without the presence of others, while the "desu/masu" style is a principle that only comes into existence between the speaker and a second-person "you." That was it! I realized that I wanted to present the anecdotes as small stories (anecdotes) that only I could tell, while presenting the analysis as a starting point for collaborative research with the reader. It was the right choice after all.

I feel as if the mist has cleared. Thanks to this, I can finally sleep soundly.

At the Threshold of Philosophy

Hiromitsu Yoshikawa

Kinokuniya Shoten

272 pages, 1,980 yen (tax included)

*Affiliations and titles are as of the time of publication.