哲学者の立場から(1)(シンポジウム 医学教育における哲学の在り方,<特集>医学教育における哲学)

抄録

In medical education,as in general education,it may be asked whether those subjects included in natural sciences, humanities,foreign languages and sports are really necessary. The essential task of philosophy is to think deeply about the most fundamental problems of our world and life, and to critically judge them. It is, therefore necessary to teach philosophy as part of medical education. However,in recent years, the presentation of philosophy to students has become far from simple. Younger generations are less inclined to think seriously and deeply about life and merely wish to spend their youth pleasantly. When considering such tendencies,teachers of philosophy, such as ourselves, must seriously reflect on what we do and how we can change our own attitudes about the role of philosophy in education. The points of my speech are as follows. 1) The aim in teaching philosophy is to cultivate, to nourish and to develop the intellect of students through lectures on philosophy. We should therefore lecture not only on Western Philosophy but also our own Japanese traditional spiritual culture. 2) Contemporary topics such as bioethics and medical technology should also be covered in philosophy. Knowledge of these topics will deepen student's understanding of what a human being is and will eventually help create the image of an ideal doctor. 3) We must attempt to provide students with the critical faculties to consider and judge, and live their own lives.