[Essay] From Linguistics to Humanities (Research Fellow Dr. Masaki Yamaoka)

Reductionism in modern science has led to the specialization of academic disciplines. The humanities, which seek to explore human beings, have likewise become differentiated into specialized fields such as philosophy, linguistics, anthropology, and religious studies. Each of these fields examines particular phenomena manifested in human beings, such as logic, language, culture, and religion.

However, if one seeks to investigate the essence of the human being as an integrated whole underlying these various phenomena, then no matter which phenomenon one begins with, one should approach a common truth. The closer one comes to that essence, the more one is compelled to transcend the boundaries of specialized disciplines, and the inquiry naturally becomes interdisciplinary.

My own field is Linguistics. During my graduate studies, I focused on the micro-level perspective of sentence structure; yet, when viewed from the totality of human communication, sentences are merely one component. In attempting to explore this totality of communication, I was inspired by the theory of John Searle, which understands utterances as acts, thereby introducing me to a philosophical perspective. Furthermore, in studying the politeness theory of Penelope Brown and Stephen Levinson, which examines interpersonal considerations in communication, I also encountered sociological and psychological perspectives—specifically, the concept of “face,” referring to the desires individuals hold in their interactions with others. The more one seeks to understand human beings, the more one inevitably crosses disciplinary boundaries and takes on an interdisciplinary character. Indeed, it seems that, in the end, such inquiry is oriented toward humanities.

The most fundamental characteristic of “face,” as proposed by the sociologist Erving Goffman, is “sacredness.” Every human being inherently possesses a religious dimension. It is through the encounter between one’s own sacredness and that of others that the interpersonal desire known as face arises. I have also applied this theory of face to the issue of brain-death organ transplantation (see “What Does It Mean to Respect Life?” 2018). At the core of human existence lies the absolute value of the self and of others, which all people inherently possess. The psychologist Donna Hicks refers to this as “dignity” and has proposed it as a “dignity model” for the resolution of international conflicts (2011).

The founder, Daisaku Ikeda, in lectures given during the early years of Soka University, repeatedly called for the exploration of a humanistic philosophy grounded in the dignity of life as a universal standard of value. It is a call whose importance has once again become keenly apparent in recent times.

This text is published with the author’s permission from “Research Notes,” Journal of Oriental Studies, Vol. 59, No. 2, p. 273, issued by the Institute of Oriental Philosophy.*