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Mission of the Generalized Science
of Humanity Project
The generalized science of humanity ( = GSH) is a new field which we are now endeavoring to elaborate as one of the disciplines of human sciences. Its objective is to examine the fundamental conditions for a better planning of a future society appropriate for all humans. This is not, as is often thought, an easy task. In fact, we should, first, take into account the nature of humankind which has been formed over a long period of time, probably more than several hundred million years; second, we should understand, without prejudice, the traditional mind set of various civilizations; third, we should have a clear understanding of the new scientific results, for example, of neuroscience, genetics, nanotechnology, financial engineering, etc.; fourth, we should have a good grasp of the political, economical and social situation of all regions of the world. The task, which is to be performed with due efficacy, seems to exceed by far the capacity of an individual, if consideration is given to the velocity of scientific developments and to the magnitude of the transformation of global societies caused by them. Therefore, we propose a collaboration of specialists of all the main fields of human, social and natural sciences. Through direct dialogue, specialists of the humanities working as core investigators in the GSH will swiftly accumulate the required information and arrive at a good understanding of it, and they will be able to undertake a reconsideration of their own intellectual paradigm, a reconsideration indispensable for the planning of a better future society. We also propose a new procedure that should be followed in order to establish the proposed new field of human and social science. Modern humanities attach great importance to obtaining evidence for truth or otherwise of results, as do the natural sciences. However, we will attach equal importance to ascertaining the significance for human welfare of the information obtained. The answer to the question of what constitutes welfare obviously varies from one civilization to another, or to be more precise, from one person to another. However, we will regard the human evaluation of information as important as the establishment of truth, even if, eventually, there will be multiple criteria for such evaluation. For two years, we have conducted discussions in regular meetings and in the two international symposia held by the Joint Research Project “Research on new conceptions of the world and humankind: pursuits of values and morals appropriate for the global civilization”, which is organized at the Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA), Tokyo(1) . We have decided to publish continuously the text of the conferences and papers read at these meetings or symposia in the Generalized Science of Humanity Series. We hope that our attempt will meet the warm reception and support of scholars from all fields of human and natural sciences.
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