This blog post takes a deep look at the meaning of human existence and attitudes toward life through Hemingway’s ‘The Old Man and the Sea’. ‘The Old Man and the Sea’ is Ernest Hemingway’s masterpiece, first published in the September 1952 issue of Life magazine. It earned him the Pulitzer Prize the following year and the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. As the last novel...
Can Kin Selection Theory Explain Altruistic Behavior Through Shared Genes?
This blog post explores whether shared genes can explain an individual’s altruistic behavior through kin selection theory, examining its limitations and issues. Introduction Richard Dawkins’ book ‘The Selfish Gene’ argues that all living beings, including humans, act according to how they are pre-programmed by their genes. Dawkins explains that individuals fulfill the task of...
Can Karl Raimund Popper’s Falsifiability Define Science?
This blog post explores whether Karl Raimund Popper’s theory of falsifiability can serve as a valid criterion for distinguishing science from non-science. Inductive reasoning is the process of deriving general conclusions from specific instances. This process has limitations because it draws conclusions from incomplete information. Its justification is based on the principle of...
Pauline Chen: How Did She Achieve Success and Family Life as a Female Asian Surgeon?
This blog post explores how Pauline Chen, a woman and Asian who pursued the path of a surgeon, achieved a balance between success and family life. I happened to read a book about the lives of surgeons. The book I read was Final Exam: A Surgeon’s Reflections on Mortality, written by Pauline Chen. This book goes beyond simply conveying medical knowledge; it contains profound reflections on...
How far should animal rights be respected amid the mechanization of production processes?
This blog post takes an in-depth look at how far animal rights should be respected within the mechanization of modern production processes. I read Yuval Noah Harari’s book Sapiens. In the section addressing the mechanization of modern production processes, I encountered the idea that production processes involving farm animals have also been mechanized, and that animals are now...
Can human cloning truly increase social utility from a utilitarian perspective?
This blog post analyzes human cloning from a utilitarian viewpoint, examining whether its process and purpose increase social utility. American philosopher Hilary Putnam outlined his reasons for opposing human cloning in Chapter 1 of his book ‘The Genetic Revolution and Human Rights’. He introduced the concept of “moral intuition,” arguing that his opposition to human cloning was based on...
Does science pursue absolute truth, or is it merely a repetition of paradigms?
Is science advancing toward absolute truth, or is it just a repetition of paradigms? In this blog post, I will reflect on the nature and purpose of science centered around this question. While reading books on the philosophy of science, I learned about discussions on how science accumulates knowledge and progresses. Through my reading, I examined various positions in the philosophy of...
Yuval Noah Harari on Religion and Science: Is Coexistence Possible in Modern Society?
This blog post examines how religion and science can coexist and complement each other in modern society through Yuval Noah Harari’s perspective. Yuval Noah Harari on Science and Religion Yuval Noah Harari begins Chapter 5 by comparing traditional myths or religions—stories of the past—with science—stories of the present. He states that the emergence of scientific theories ushered in...
Why did noble love become tragic in Goethe’s ‘Urfaust’?
This blog post examines how noble love, through Goethe’s ‘Urfaust’, reveals human frailty and moral limitations, leading to tragedy. When people think of love, they often imagine a sublime and beautiful, yet simultaneously fiery and passionate emotion. This conception of love seems to be a common image that arises in people’s consciousness across cultures and throughout history...
Is it justified to interpret gaps science cannot answer as the intervention of an intelligent being?
This blog post explores whether it is truly justified to interpret areas science has yet to explain as the intervention of an ‘intelligent being’. Through the clash between evolution and intelligent design theory, we deeply examine where the boundary lies between scientific evidence and theological interpretation. In a world dominated by creationism—the belief that God created the universe...