Mita Philosophical Society Workshop
Event Date
Event Venue
"The Locus and Future of Responsibility: A Thorough Discussion between Hirohide Takikawa and Yoshinori Saito"
2023/01/24
Item 1 | Item 2 |
|---|---|
Date & Time | Wednesday, March 8, 2023, 13:00–16:00 |
Location | Distance Learning Room, 4th basement floor, South Building, Keio University Mita Campus |
Eligibility | Open to everyone. Advance registration is required (details will be announced later). This event will not be streamed online. |
Speakers | Hirohide Takikawa (The University of Tokyo), Yoshinori Saito (Keio University) |
Moderator | Yoshinori Saito (Keio University) |
Organizer | Mita Philosophical Society |
Overview:
Our daily lives operate on the premise of people acting responsibly. Responsibility, in turn, is believed to be conditional on the principle that the person bearing it is free. In other words, one cannot be held accountable for an act committed under duress or when there was no alternative. But is it true that we are free? And what does it mean to bear a responsibility that can only be shouldered in freedom? Anyone who attempts to confront these questions directly is likely to find themselves perplexed.
In response to these questions, our invited speaker Hirohide Takikawa has persuasively argued that the factual inability to have done otherwise is not necessarily a condition for responsibility. In works such as "The Meaning and System of Responsibility: From Burden to Response" (Keiso Shobo, 2003) and "The Possibility of Acting Otherwise Is Not a Necessary Condition for Responsibility" (*Hogaku Zasshi* [Journal of Law] 55, no. 1 [2008]), he contends that the responsibility borne in such cases is not a burden but a response. From this perspective, he has embarked on the task of reinterpreting the legal system and its practice.
On the other hand, in his book "I May Be Free: The Metaphysics of 'Freedom as Responsibility'" (Keio University Press, 2018), Yoshinori Saito examines Heidegger's "analysis of death and conscience" and Levinas's philosophy of the "Other." Through this, he demonstrates that we can, must, and in fact do bear things over which we have no control—such as our birth, death, and other people—by "affirming" them nonetheless. He argues that it is through this act that we become free under "pure possibility."
In this workshop, both philosophers—each of whom perceives responsibility as a form of response at the core of our actions—will present to each other several challenges they have encountered while further developing their respective philosophical frameworks. Through frank discussion, they aim to deepen our understanding of responsibility. On the day of the event, Takikawa and Saito will each give a 40-minute presentation. Following a break, the second half of the session will be devoted to a 40-minute intensive discussion between them. Active participation from the audience is highly encouraged.