From the Dean

School of Humanities and Social Sciences
From the Dean
OKAMOTO Tomochika

Universities, as educational institutions, are places of higher education subsequent to primary and secondary education. Those who study here are called “students” (gakusei), distinguished in Japanese usage from “schoolchildren” (jido) in primary education and “pupils” (seito) in secondary education. This difference in terminology can also be understood as corresponding to a difference in the nature of learning at university. A university is not merely a place to be taught pre-existing knowledge; it is a place where you receive the knowledge that humanity has accumulated in the past, while at the same time formulating your own questions and exploring them to step forward into new understanding.

To support such learning, Waseda University’s School of Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) offers 18 courses covering a broad spectrum of disciplines, ranging from fields that study literature, philosophy, history, language, and the arts in order to contemplate humanity and culture, to fields that explore the human mind, education, and society. The knowledge accumulated here is a crystallization of Waseda’s humanities scholarship, passed down and cultivated since 1890, when the Department of Literature was first established at the university’s predecessor, Tokyo Senmon Gakko.

Within this educational and research environment, students’ learning at HSS proceeds in stages. In the first year, students are exposed to diverse academic fields while acquiring the foundations for learning and conducting research at university level. From the second year onward, students proceed to one of the 18 courses to deepen their knowledge in their respective specialized fields. Finally, as the culmination of their studies, all students work on a bachelor’s thesis. Learning, which begins with the acquisition of knowledge, eventually progresses to the stage at which students identify questions of their own and give them concrete form through research.

This kind of learning has become all the more significant under current social conditions. Recent years have seen the social value of the humanities and social sciences come into question, and there are times when the downsizing and reorganization of educational and research organizations are debated. One of the factors behind this is likely an instrumental rationality that emphasizes effective ways to achieve specific ends, as well as a utilitarian view of knowledge that measures its worth by short-term usefulness. However, it is also the role of scholarship to uncover what cannot be captured by such mindsets alone. Therefore, the knowledge needed to understand humanity and society and to grasp history, the ability to interpret human experience as expressed in language and creative works, and the capacity to think critically about the world we live in from multiple perspectives are crucial.

The knowledge cultivated over four years forms an intellectual framework that enables us to keep questioning and learning. This framework is not complete at graduation; it continues to develop throughout life, supporting dialogue with others and engagement with society. What is a human being? How have humans expressed the world through language and creative works? What history underlies the present in which we live? Why has society taken its current shape? How do we live together with others? There are countless questions that we must continue to face.

I hope that at HSS you will discover questions of your own and, through pursuing them, cultivate an intellect that will sustain a lifetime of learning.