Marcel Mauss

Tous ces phénomènes sont à la fois juridiques, économiques, religieux, et même esthétiques, morphologiques, etc. Ils sont juridiques, de droit privé et publie, de moralité organisée et diffuse, strictement obligatoires ou simplement loués et blâmés, politiques et domestiques en même temps, intéressant les classes sociales aussi bien que les clans et les familles. Ils sont religieux : de religion stricte et de magie et d’animisme et de mentalité religieuse diffuse. Ils sont économiques : car l’idée de la valeur, de l’utile, de l’intérêt, du luxe, de la richesse, de l’acquisition de l’accumulation, et d’autre part, celle de la consommation, même celle de la dépense pure, purement somptuaire, y sont partout présentes, bien qu’elles y soient entendues autrement qu’aujourd’hui chez nous.

Émile Durkheim

La première règle et la plus fondamentale est de considérer
les faits sociaux comme des choses.

Au moment où un ordre nouveau de phénomènes devient objet de science, ils se trouvent déjà représentés dans l'esprit, non seulement par des images sensibles, mais par des sortes de concepts grossièrement formés. Avant les premiers rudiments de la physique et de la chimie, les hommes avaient déjà sur les phénomènes physico-chimiques des notions qui dépassaient la pure perception ; telles sont, par exemple, celles que nous trouvons mêlées à toutes les religions. C'est que, en effet, la réflexion est antérieure à la science qui ne fait que s'en servir avec plus de méthode. L'homme ne peut pas vivre au milieu des choses sans s'en faire des idées d'après lesquelles il règle sa conduite. Seule ment, parce que ces notions sont plus près de nous et plus à notre portée que les réalités auxquelles elles correspondent, nous tendons naturellement à les substituer à ces dernières et à en faire la matière même de nos spéculations. Au lieu d'observer les choses, de les décrire, de les comparer, nous nous contentons alors de prendre conscience de nos idées, de les analyser, de les combiner. Au lieu d'une science de réalités, nous ne faisons plus qu'une analyse idéologique. Sans doute, cette analyse n'exclut pas nécessairement toute observation. On peut faire appel aux faits pour confirmer ces notions ou les conclusions qu'on en tire. Mais les faits n'interviennent alors que secondairement, à titre d'exemples ou de preuves confirmatoires ; ils ne sont pas l'objet de la science. Celle-ci va des idées aux choses, non des choses aux idées.

Émile Durkheim

C'est là, d'ailleurs, ce qui fait le prix que la pensée conceptuelle a pour nous. Si les concepts n'étaient que des idées générales, ils n'enrichiraient pas beaucoup la connaissance ; car le général, comme nous l'avons déjà dit, ne contient rien de plus que le particulier. Mais si ce sont, avant tout, des représentations collectives, ils ajoutent, à ce que peut nous apprendre notre expérience personnelle, tout ce que la collectivité a accumulé de sagesse et de science au cours des siècles. Penser par concepts, ce n'est pas simplement voir le réel par le côté le plus général ; c'est projeter sur la sensation une lumière qui l'éclaire, la pénètre et la transforme. Concevoir une chose, c'est en même temps qu'en mieux appréhender les éléments essentiels, la situer dans un ensemble ; car chaque civilisation a son système organisé de concepts qui la caractérise. En face de ce système de notions, l'esprit individuel est dans la même situation que le nous de Platon en face du monde des Idées. Il s'efforce de se les assimiler, car il en a besoin pour pouvoir commercer avec ses semblables ; mais l'assimilation est toujours imparfaite. Chacun de nous les voit à sa façon. Il en est qui nous échappent complètement, qui restent en dehors de notre cercle de vision; d'autres, dont nous n'apercevons que certains aspects. Il en est même, et beaucoup, que nous dénaturons en les pensant ; car, comme elles sont collectives par nature, elles ne peuvent s'individualiser sans être retouchées, modifiées et, par conséquent, faussées. De là vient que nous avons tant de mal à nous entendre, que, souvent même, nous nous mentons, sans le vouloir, les uns aux autres : c'est que nous employons tous les mêmes mots sans leur donner tous le même sens.
Les Formes élémentaires de la vie religieuse - Livre III: Les principales attitudes rituelles (PDF)

浜村拓夫

人間の知的活動レベルには、(1)知識、(2)知能、(3)知恵 という３段階がある。
「知識」＝ある事柄についての情報。情報の内容が正しいかどうかを確かめる方法があれば知識で、なければ空想。知識がある人を「ガリ勉」という。
「知能」＝知識を組み合わせて使いこなす才能。事務処理能力などが知能にあたる。知能がある人を「秀才」という。
「知恵」＝知識、知能によっては得られない、真実を見抜く能力。知恵があれば、誰も知らないことでも発見できる。知恵がある人を「天才」という。
日本の学校教育で与えられるものは、上記(1)と(2)の知識と知能だけであって、(3)は得られない、という認識がなければ、すでに知恵がない＝無知ということになるな。
教育改革がうまくいかないのは、教育改革を担当する実務者に知恵がないからだ。ガリ勉育ちの官僚がいくらたくさんいても、問題解決が図れない。
ユダヤ人に比べて、日本人は無知なのだろうか？

Arthur Schopenhauer

The intellectual attainments of a man who thinks for himself resemble a fine painting, where the light and shade are correct, the tone sustained, the colour perfectly harmonised; it is true to life. On the other hand, the intellectual attainments of the mere man of learning are like a large palette, full of all sorts of colours, which at most are systematically arranged, but devoid of harmony, connection and meaning.

Men are by nature merely indifferent to one another; but women are by nature enemies.

Albert Einstein

I believe in intuitions and inspirations. I sometimes feel that I am right. I do not know that I am. When two expeditions of scientists, financed by the Royal Academy, went forth to test my theory of relativity, I was convinced that their conclusions would tally with my hypothesis. I was not surprised when the eclipse of May 29, 1919, confirmed my intuitions. I would have been surprised if I had been wrong.
Then you trust more to your imagination than to your knowledge?
I am enough of the artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.

Jerry Harkins

Pete Seeger tells a story about a king who asked his wise men to reduce all the world's knowledge and wisdom to a single book he could use to educate his son. It took them nearly a year and, when they were done, the king challenged them to distill the book down to a single sentence. Five years of intense labor and constant debate followed until, at last, the wise men were able to agree on the sentence, "This too shall pass." Again the king sent them back to the academy. "Find me," he commanded, "the single word my son can live by, the irreducible essence of everything we know." Ten years passed. At length, the sages, old, gray and worn with disputation, returned. "Sire," said their leader, "the one word at the heart of all wisdom, is 'maybe.'"

Ruth Ness

It is important to distinguish between “bad” and “wrong.” In the 2 X 2 table of good/bad versus right/wrong, all four cells are filled, and failure to distinguish among them inappropriately condemns the field. “Good and right” is devoutly to be wished. “Bad and wrong” is anathema. The discordant pairs are a problem. “Bad and right” can happen; what? 5% of the time? But the real problem is “good and wrong.” In fact, the HRT controversy is an example of how, in the progress of epidemiologic science, many may have gotten it wrong.

John Maynard Keynes

The idea of the future being different from the present is so repugnant to our conventional modes of thought and behaviour that we, most of us, offer a great resistance to acting on it in practice.

T. S. Eliot

The Eagle soars in the summit of Heaven,
The Hunter with his dogs pursues his circuit.
O perpetual revolution of configured stars,
O perpetual recurrence of determined seasons,
O world of spring and autumn, birth and dying
The endless cycle of idea and action,
Endless invention, endless experiment,
Brings knowledge of motion, but not of stillness;
Knowledge of speech, but not of silence;
Knowledge of words, and ignorance of the Word.
All our knowledge brings us nearer to our ignorance,
All our ignorance brings us nearer to death,
But nearness to death no nearer to GOD.
Where is the Life we have lost in living?
Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?
The cycles of Heaven in twenty centuries
Bring us farther from GOD and nearer to the Dust.

Matt Rosenberg

While the terms country, state, and nation are often used interchangeably, there is a difference.
A State (note the capital “S”) is a self-governing political entity. The term State can be used interchangeably with country.
A nation, however, is a tightly-knit group of people which share a common culture. A nation-state is a nation which has the same borders as a State.

Wikipedia

Glittering generalities (also called glowing generalities) are emotionally appealing words so closely associated with highly-valued concepts and beliefs that they carry conviction without supporting information or reason. Such highly-valued concepts attract general approval and acclaim. Their appeal is to emotions such as love of country and home, and desire for peace, freedom, glory, and honor. They ask for approval without examination of the reason. They are typically used by politicians and propagandists.
A glittering generality has two qualities: it is vague; and it has positive connotations.
Words and phrases such as “common good”, “reform”, “courage”, “democracy”, “freedom”, “hope”, “patriotism”, “strength”, are terms with which people all over the world have powerful associations, and they may have trouble disagreeing with them. However, these words are highly abstract and ambiguous, and meaningful differences exist regarding what they actually mean or should mean in the real world.

维基百科

光辉普照 (glittering generality) 是一种宣传及广告的技巧，利用正面、高质量的概念或信念，例如对祖国、对家园的爱；对和平、自由、光荣或名誉的渴望等等，与想要宣传的事物连结在一起，并且让阅听人在没有验證或背景资料的情况下就轻易接受或认同所诉求的讯息。
光辉普照通常有两种特性：讯息模糊；有正面的隐喻。
例如雄壮、民主、爱国或自由等等让人感觉富有力量，但也不容易反对的词彙，就经常使用在光辉普照中，而一般也很少有人会对自由表达反对的意见。但另一方面，这些词彙通常都高度抽象，并且在表面的语意与现实社会中，可能存在著相当大的落差，就以「自由」而言，反对者可能认为在不同的情境或不同的人身上，自由可能会存在完全相反的意义。
常见的光辉普照包含了：先进；民主；自由；文明；和谐；统一；发展；环保；人民；共产党；无产阶级。

George Orwell

In certain kinds of writing, particularly in art criticism and literary criticism, it is normal to come across long passages which are almost completely lacking in meaning. Words like romantic, plastic, values, human, dead, sentimental, natural, vitality, as used in art criticism, are strictly meaningless, in the sense that they not only do not point to any discoverable object, but are hardly ever expected to do so by the reader. When one critic writes, "The outstanding feature of Mr. X's work is its living quality," while another writes, "The immediately striking thing about Mr. X's work is its peculiar deadness," the reader accepts this as a simple difference of opinion. If words like black and white were involved, instead of the jargon words dead and living, he would see at once that language was being used in an improper way. Many political words are similarly abused. The word Fascism has now no meaning except in so far as it signifies "something not desirable." The words democracy, socialism, freedom, patriotic, realistic, justice have each of them several different meanings which cannot be reconciled with one another. In the case of a word like democracy, not only is there no agreed definition, but the attempt to make one is resisted from all sides. It is almost universally felt that when we call a country democratic we are praising it: consequently the defenders of every kind of regime claim that it is a democracy, and fear that they might have to stop using that word if it were tied down to any one meaning. Words of this kind are often used in a consciously dishonest way. That is, the person who uses them has his own private definition, but allows his hearer to think he means something quite different. Statements like "Marshal Pétain was a true patriot," "The Soviet press is the freest in the world," "The Catholic Church is opposed to persecution," are almost always made with intent to deceive. Other words used in variable meanings, in most cases more or less dishonestly, are: class, totalitarian, science, progressive, reactionary, equality.

Embassies in Tokyo

   

MOFA: List of Embassies

Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University

The Berkman Center's mission is to explore and understand cyberspace; to study its development, dynamics, norms, and standards; and to assess the need or lack thereof for laws and sanctions.
We are a research center, premised on the observation that what we seek to learn is not already recorded. Our method is to build out into cyberspace, record data as we go, self-study, and share. Our mode is entrepreneurial nonprofit.

平川秀幸

真実が政治的イデオロギーや経済的利害によって捻じ曲げられてはならないというのは、科学に限らず、社会全般において侵すべからず大事な原則だろう。
その意味で価値中立性は、科学にとって重要な倫理的規範なのだということができる。
とはいえ、価値中立性という概念が全く問題のないものかといえば、答えは明らかにＮＯだ。
「規範としての価値中立性」の反面には「幻想としての価値中立性」がある。
一番の問題は、この概念が、科学技術と社会の共生成という現実を覆い隠し、科学技術に対する社会的・政治的な観点からの批判的な検討や議論を遮断するロジックとして働いてしまうことである。
科学技術をいわば「社会的・政治的な真空地帯」として聖域化することで「脱政治化」し、公共的ガバナンスの射程を、科学技術の「使い方」や、使い方を決める社会や政治の側だけに限定してしまうのだ。
「科学技術の成果が何か社会に害悪をもたらしたとすれば、それは使い方が悪いからであり、科学技術それ自体は善でも悪でもなく価値中立性である」という主張などはその典型だ。

Yuichiro Hoshi, Shinichi Mochizuki

Let Σ be a nonempty set of prime numbers. In the present paper, we continue our study of the pro- Σ fundamental groups of hyperbolic curves and their associated con guration spaces over algebraically closed elds of characteristic zero. Our first main result asserts, roughly speaking, that if an F-admissible automorphism [i.e., an automorphism that preserves the fi ber subgroups that arise as kernels associated to the various natural projections of the configuration space under consideration to con guration spaces of lower dimension] of a configuration space group arises from an F-admissible automorphism of a configuration space group [arising from a con figuration space] of strictly higher dimension, then it is necessarily FC-admissible, i.e., preserves the cuspidal inertia subgroups of the various subquotients corresponding to surface groups.

山内明美

日本は明治期から、米輸出国であり1960年代に至るまで、米増産政策を推し進めてきた。米増産への道程は、西南日本の先進地から東北へと稲作技術が普及していった過程でもある。江戸時代の“分断された生産力”が維新によって解き放たれ、一国の統一した生産力を体現した。食糧管理法の成立が、日本の稲作、とりわけ東北にどのような影響を与えたかを概観する。そして、日本人が今日「日本の米」であると認識しているのが、稲作後進地であった東北で作られている米であるという事実を確認したい。東北で作られた米は、古代国家で作られていたのと同じ味の米ではないのである。それは度重なる品種改良のもとにつくられた、まさに“異人の米”なのである。

Αριστοτέλης

Πάντες ἄνθρωποι τοῦ εἰδέναι ὀρέγονται φύσει. Σημεῖον δ᾽ ἡ τῶν αἰσθήσεων ἀγάπησις: καὶ γὰρ χωρὶς τῆς χρείας ἀγαπῶνται δι᾽ αὑτάς, καὶ μάλιστα τῶν ἄλλων ἡ διὰ τῶν ὀμμάτων. Οὐ γὰρ μόνον ἵνα πράττωμεν ἀλλὰ καὶ μηθὲν μέλλοντες πράττειν τὸ ὁρᾶν αἱρούμεθα ἀντὶ πάντων ὡς εἰπεῖν τῶν ἄλλων. Αἴτιον δ᾽ ὅτι μάλιστα ποιεῖ γνωρίζειν ἡμᾶς αὕτη τῶν αἰσθήσεων καὶ πολλὰς δηλοῖ διαφοράς.