International Workshop “Toward a Better WE” to be held February 21 & 22, 2023

As part of Smart WE project, we will be hosting an international workshop “Toward a Better WE.”

Details of the Workshop

International Workshop “Toward a Better WE”

Date: 21 and 22 February 2023
Venue: Kyoto University Rakuyu Kaikan (Day 1), Oku-Biwako Makino Grand Park Hotel (Day 2)

Mission Statement

In the workshop, we will discuss various types of WEs (communities and bonds) (principles that bind WEs together, scope of WE membership, fluidity/fixedness of WEs, openness/closeness of WEs, relationships among members in WEs, relationships to outside WEs, etc.), as well as “good” or “bad” WEs, with an eye to those that include only human members, human beings and other agents (animals, artificial objects such as AI and robots, natural environment, etc.). Also we would like to discuss how to create a “better WE” by considering the “goodness” or “badness” of a WE, and the factors (parameters) that make a WE “good” or “bad”.

The WE discussed here can be the WE of a specific historical society, the WE conceived in philosophy, religion, or literature or other arts, or a mixture of both.

We would also appreciate it if you could mention the various challenges facing contemporary (human) society such as the smartfication of WE.

Yasuo Deguchi

Programme

Day 1

09:30 – 10:20 Yasuo Deguchi, “WE-Turn” of Freedom to “WE-Standard” for Ethics of AI and Robots
10:30 – 11:20 Fion Wu, Natsume Sōseki, Self and Individualism
11:30 – 12:20 Ruiping Fan, The Challenges of Cryonics to the Fundamental Confucian “WE”
12:20 – 13:45 Lunch Break
13:45 – 14:35 Yuko Murakami, Constructive WE for logic of agency
14:50 – 15:40 Nobutsugu Kanzaki, We are not “WE”: research ethics for transdisciplinary studies
15:50 – 16:40 Rafik Hadfi, Deconstructing Individual and Collective Selves

Day 2

10:00 – 10:50 Jacky Tai, Cosmopolitics of wanderers: thinking with Arendt, Tassin and Balibar
11:00 – 11:50 Masayuki Sato, Conceptions of Self and Human Relationships in the Thoughts of the Warring States Masters in Ancient China
11:50 – 13:30 Lunch Break
13:30 – 14:20 Ching Yuen Cheung, The idea of “WE” in Nikkei Communities in Sao Paulo
14:30 – 15:20 Laÿna Droz, Who is left out of the “WE”? Trade-offs in multispecies societies
15:40 – 16:30 Xiaolin Wang, “WE” in Confucianism: On the Concept of “Renmin” in Contemporary China
16:40 – 17:30 Roundtable

Those who want to participate from outside the project will be required to participate online.
If you want to participate, please contact the Smart WE Project Office (smart-we.office[at]bun.kyoto-u.ac.jp) by 9:00 a.m. on February 20, 2023.