Japanese version of this article
Phenomenology of Reason: Dialogue with Japanese Philosophy was one of the classes offered at Hokkaido Summer Institute 2016. It was held for 5 days from August 1st to August 5th.
In this course, which took comparing, and thus more thoroughly understanding, the concept of reason in Phenomenology and Japanese Philosophy as its theme, 3 professors invited from abroad and the Faculty of Letters’ own Professor Taguchi gave lectures to students. Students then would engage in the class more proactively by participating in discussions and giving presentations, thus making this an active learning style class.
First, professors would give a lecture in accordance with the theme of the day. At the end of the day, discussions were held between the 4 professors and the students, allowing students to more thoroughly understand the theme of the day.
Meeting room No. 1 / Faculty House Trillium
Furthermore, on the final day, students all gave presentations. Students were divided into 3 person groups and made slides for their presentation on their chosen theme. Being able to present in English in front of researchers working at the forefront of worldwide research proved to be a valuable experience for the students. Presenters were able to effectively answer the teachers’ questions, thus showing the results of their 5 days of classes.
This was a very densely packed 5 day long course on the challenging theme of Phenomenology. According to surveys, many students said the class was difficult. Yet, simultaneously many students also said that the “Content and Structure of the class was good,” and that “they felt very inspired.” This class provided five days in which students were able to feel a sense of accomplishment from entering into a challenging field, understand our increasingly complex modern society and furthermore find a new way of thinking necessary to accomplish this task.