The Body Shapes Research

2019/12/19

A characteristic of SFC is the Kenkyukai (seminar) system. I manage my Kenkyukai as a place where students pursue their interests from the perspective of the faculty member's expertise. It is my third year since joining the Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, and we currently have 35 members.

In the field of university education, the challenges facing society emerge in multifaceted ways through the generation in their 20s. What I particularly notice in discussions with students in the Kenkyukai is the difference between thoughts based on the students' own real-life experiences and thoughts based on information acquired as knowledge.

Neuroscientist Dr. Antonio Damasio stated that emotions and feelings can arise not only based on sensory input to the body but also based on body representations within the brain. He points out in his book "Descartes' Error" that the reason for having body representations in the brain is to quickly make future predictions based on those representations, which cannot be done solely through understanding the current situation based on bodily sensations.

If knowledge based on one's own real-life experience is obtained through sensory input to the body, then information shared by others corresponds to "body representation in the brain"-like knowledge, acquired as if it were a real experience. Such knowledge can be acquired quickly because it does not require real-life experience. However, the weight or lightness of the meaning that knowledge holds is nothing more than a "prediction." I have the impression that discussions based on such "as-if experiences" tend to be more superficial compared to discussions based on real-life experiences. Because modern people are exposed to a vast amount of information through diverse information channels, processing that information can sometimes become the goal itself. Consequently, I feel that people sometimes engage in discussions based on predictions from "body representations in the brain" without savoring the weight of the collected information with their own bodies. Discussions without a gut feeling, even when words are spoken, lack weight and warmth in the words that are heard.

In my Kenkyukai, I try to ensure that each member sets their individual research theme based on experiences that "pierced their heart" or "moved them deeply." This is because a research theme not based on real-life experience, even if it is rational to the body representation in the brain of the researcher, causes a sense of discomfort in the body, which is the seat of life. One cannot continue research where the body continues to rebel through gut feelings, and the person will likely not find it enjoyable. I believe that research should go where the heart cries out, and that heart is shaped by the body.