- - Painless Civilization
- - Post-religious Age
- - Brain Death etc.

- - Idea of life, death,
- - nature, sexuality,
- - feminism, disability

- - WTC attack
- - Brain death
- - World bioethics

Lifestudies.Org
All rights reserved.
Director: Masahiro Morioka
Copyright: (C)1999-2009

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Since Dec.3,1999

Life studies: Interdisciplinary approaches to contemporary issues of life, death, and nature. It includes philosophy of life, sociology of life & death, bioethics, environmental ethics, and the critique of contemporary civilization at its core. Our primary concern is how to live in this chaotic society without regret. We aim at combining academic research with our own life. International Network for Life Studies was established as a non-profit organization to network people with similar interests.

This website contains: Free Online Literature, Open Access Resources, Electronic Text Archives

= Featured essays, books and papers =

Painless Civilization and Fundamental Sense of Security: A Philosophical Challenge in the Age of Human Biotechnology
An outline of philosophy proposed in the book, Painless Civilization. The ideas of "fundamental sense of security", "disappearance of conviction of love", "preventive reduction of pain" and other important concepts are briefly discussed. A good introduction to Morioka's philosophy.

Painless Civilization: A Philosophical Critique of Desire: Chapter 1
The most controversial book I have ever written. The endless tendency to eliminate pain and suffering makes us totally lose sight of the meaning of life that is indispensable to human beings. Summary, book reviews, and table of contents.

The Insensitive Man: A Philosophical Essay on Male Sexuality
A fascinating book on male sexuality, especially men's sexual insensitivity, men's self-denial about their bodies, and their desire of little girls and school uniforms. How to escape from being an insensitive man? An epoch-making book in men's studies.
>> Preface
>> Chapter 1
>> Chapter 2

The Ethics of Human Cloning and the Sprout of Human Life
In Japan, not only people who object to human cloning, but also many of those who seek to promote research on human cloning admit that a human embryo is the sprout of human life and, hence, it should be highly respected. Why?

Cross-cultural Approaches to the Philosophy of Life in the Contemporary World:
From Bioethics to Life Studies
The first aim of this paper is to criticize the East/West dichotomy often found in bioethics literature. The second aim is to overview the scope of "life studies" that was presented instead of bioethics. Summary of Morioka's works is included. Written in 2002.

Is it Morally Acceptable to Remove Organs from Brain-Dead Children? (2007) Children have the right not to be exploited by the desire of adults. When a brain dead child has said nothing about brain death, we have to think that the child has a right to live and die peacefully, fully protected against the interests of others. Published in The Lancet.

What Kind of Place is an Intensive Care Unit?:Chapter 2 of Brain Dead Person
Translation of Chapter 2 of Brain Dead Person is finished. In this chapter I introduced the idea of "care of the sphere" that surrounds a brain dead person in an intensive care unit. The most important and impressive part of the book.

My Death and the Death of Others: Chapter 5 of Brain Dead Person
Translation of Chapter 5 of Brain Dead Person is finished. I distinguished among three concepts: "my death," "death of a person familiar to me," and "death of a person unfamiliar to me," and then stressed the importance of our shared life history and memories of a brain dead person.

Efficiency and Irreplaceability: Chapter 7 of Brain Dead Person
Translation of Chapter 7 of Brain Dead Person is finished. I talked about the importance of "nursing care" in the ethics of brain death and organ transplants, and the possibility of alternative methods of dealing with matters of life and death.

The Structure of the Inner Life of a Philosopher: The Multi-Layered Aspects of Speech
This essay illustrates the development of Morioka's philosophy from his boyhood to the mid-1990s. You can see why I was enthusiastic about life studies, bioethics, Wittgenstein, media studies, and manga.

Ulrike WÖHR, Die Ambivalenz des Lebens und die Unmöglichkeit der Religion: MORIOKA MASAHIRO und Seine SEIMEIGAKU (The Ambivalence of Life and the Impossibility of Religion: Morioka Masahiro and his Seimeigaku(Life Studies)) Professor Ulrike WÖHR criticized Morioka's works 1988-1999 from the viewpoint of religious and Japanese studies. Published in 2001 in German.

Summary of the book.
Life Studies for Beginners: A Philosophy of Life for Facing Oneself
Introductory lectures on care for terminally ill patients, the relationship between parents and children, conditional love, painless civilization, feminism, eugenic thought and disability, and so on. A handbook for beginners on life studies.

Summary of the book,
How to Live in a Post-religious Age
This is a book that declared the third way between religion and science, as a response to Aum Shinrikyo cult's sarin nerve gas attack on Tokyo's subway systems in 1995 as a result of their pursuit of "truth" and "awakening." Morioka's most loved book.

Summary of the book,
Life Studies Approaches to Bioethics: A New Perspective on Brain Death, Feminism, and Disability
"Life studies approach," a completely new way of thinking about bioethical issues. Attractive discussion of "the fundamental sense of security","the reality of swaying I", "men's bioethics," and "the advent of an absent being."

Disability Movement and Inner Eugenic Thought:
A Philosophical Aspect of Independent Living and Bioethics
Criticism of eugenic thought in terms of self-affirmation and the fundamental sense of security. What did disabled people think about life and technology? In Japan, it was disabled activists and feminists that began bioethics in the early 1970s. Paper presented at TRT7, Feb.17, 2002.

Summary of the book,
Consciousness Communication: The Birth of a Dream Navigator
A pioneering work, published in 1993, before the commercial internet and portable phones, that anticipated today's chaotic cyber-society using such terms as "community of anonymity," "consciousness interaction field," "conscioussness communication," and "dream navigator."

A Proposal of a Comparative Study: History of Bioethics around the World
The idea of "bioethics" has spread over the world, but we still don't know how it has developed in each country, and what kinds of topics have been discussed around the world. Topics may include not only biomedical issues but also environmntal issues, cross-cultural analysis of the idea of life, globalization & war, and so on. We would like to know information about them. Please join our research.

Special Report on Brain Death and Transplantation Law in Japan
The Japanese transplantation law began to be reconsidered in October 2000. The areas of greatest concern are the "donor's prior declaration" principle and organ donations by children. An unprecedented bioethics debate is occurring in Japan.....
>> "Reconsidering Brain Death: A Lesson from Japan's Fifteen Years of Experience" in Hastings Center Report 31, no.4 (2001), and others.

= Featured articles in Associate Sites (List of Associate Sites) =

Réseau International d'Etude de la Vie, Belgique (French) by Hiroko Shohoji et al.
French translations of this website, and a networking site for French speakers around the world.
>> Qu'est-ce que l'étude de la vie ?
>> Personnes à l'état de mort cérébrale
>> Approche critique de la civilisation indolore

International Network for Life Studies, Japan (Japanese) by Masahiro Morioka

=Previously featured articles=

Translation of Brain Dead Person (1989) is in progress. This book introduced a "human relationship oriented analysis of brain death" into the field of bioethics. What is discovered by thinking about death from the viewpoint of human relationships? Translation of Chapter 1 was finished.
>> Commentary on "Brain Dead Person" Chapter 1 by Robert D. Truog, MD

Special Report on the World Trade Center Attack: Japanese Responses
Many Japanese activist groups and academic associations published statements objecting to terrorism and retaliation just after September 11, 2001. We report their peace activities and related sites.
>> "How did Japanese Netizens Respond to the World Trade Center Attack?," and others.

What do we Learn from Japanese Feminist Bioethics?
Japanese bioethics began as feminist bioethics in the early 1970s. This essay provides a brief sketch of their thoughts. Japanese feminism played a different role from other countries in the field of bioethics.

The Concept of Inochi "Inochi" is the most important word that means 'life,' 'spirit,' and 'nature' in Japanese. The Japanese grasp the idea of  'human life' in relationship with that of 'nature'. I am planning to write "Life Studies Approaches to Ecology" in English....

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