An interdisciplinary study of human agency: taking vulnerability and interdependency seriously

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K02010
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Philosophy/Ethics
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo (2017); Mie Prefectural College of Nursing (2015-2016)
• Principal Investigator: Hayakawa Seisuke 東京大学, 大学院人文社会系研究科(文学部), 特任准教授 (60587765)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 竹内 聖一 立正大学, 文学部, 准教授 (00503864) ; 古田 徹也 専修大学, 文学部, 准教授 (00710394) ; 吉川 孝 高知県立大学, 文化学部, 准教授 (20453219) ; 八重樫 徹 広島工業大学, 工学部, 准教授 (20748884) ; 木村 正人 高千穂大学, 人間科学部, 准教授 (80409599) ; 川瀬 和也 宮崎公立大学, 人文学部, 助教 (90738022) ; 池田 喬 明治大学, 文学部, 専任准教授 (70588839) ; 筒井 晴香 玉川大学, 教育学部, 非常勤講師 (90760489) ; 萬屋 博喜 広島工業大学, 環境学部, 助教 (00726664) ; 島村 修平 日本大学, 理工学部, 助教 (90801655) ; 鈴木 雄大 国際武道大学, 体育学部, 助教 (20794928)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 脆弱性 / ケア / 依存性 / 共感 / 責任 / 道徳的運

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We highlighted human vulnerability and its related notions such as suffering, empathy, care, receptivity, and responsibility, thereby successfully providing a more nuanced picture of human agency than mainstream action theorists did. Many of theorists on human agency have placed an overriding emphasis on the self-governing dimension of agency, and thus largely overlooked the vulnerable aspects that are central to understanding the nature of relational agents like us. To fill in this lacuna, we adopted an interdisciplinary approach, and fully explored the fundamental implications of human vulnerability for the theory of human agency.

Free Research Field

哲学・倫理学