ISAS

Institute for 

the Synergy of Arts and Sciences 

Renewal: 12 March  2009

Introduction

What is the Synergy of Arts and Sciences (SAS)

Fig. 1 

The synergy of two branches forms SAS

Table 1 

Examples of themes for four methodologies of SAS

Features of two branches

Table 2 

Features of typical disciplines of two branches

Information on ISAS

Activities

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Introduction

In 1959 C.P.Snow published a book titled “The Two Cultures”.  On the one hand, there were the literary intellectuals and on the other, the scientists. He warned that literary intellectuals were not at all communicating with scientists, and vice versa.  In the next book “The Two Cultures: A Second Look”, Snow expected the arrival of a new culture which could bridge the two cultures.  Recently, such interdisciplinary attempts as complexity attracted much attention, and such titled book as “The Third Culture” was published.  However, in my opinion, these attempts are too basic to realize new culture which Snow suggested.  The two-culture problem is especially serious in Japan.  In most Japanese high schools, students are divided into two courses from the first or the second grade: “literary course” and “science
course”.  This is because subjects of the examination for admission to universities differ between the two courses.  In literary faculties namely faculties of social and human sciences, subjects of examination cover in general English, Japanese and Civics.  On the other hand, those in scientific faculties namely faculties of science and technology cover in general English, Mathematics and selection among Physics, Chemistry and Biology.  Japanese young students therefore usually learn only a few subjects in high schools. Moreover, after the entrance in the specific faculty of the university they learn more about their major fields than the liberal arts. Their visions are apprehended to become narrower and narrower in spite of the social needs of wide-view persons accompanying as the modern complicated society.  In fact, the result of the survey by OECD showed that the ratios of citizens who are interested in science and technology, and who have certain amount of scientific knowledges were lowest for Japanese citizens in OECD countries.

What is the Synergy of Arts and Sciences (SAS)

In Japan, each discipline has in general been divided into two branches, namely “literary branch” and “science branch”.  Literary branch" includes social and human sciences and science branch", natural science and technology.  These two branches have formed very firm two cultures" where two persons met first on business exchange such greetings as which branch did you graduated from?".  So far two branches have been completely separated in higher education and academic world. However, recent complicated society
claims the close relation between the two.  Fig. 1 shows a molecular model of the synergy of arts and sciences (SAS). It will be understood that there appear four methodologies:

　　　　　　
　　　　　　　　　　　　Fig. 1 The synergy of two branches forms SAS


transdisciplinary domain spread over two branches, interdisciplinary domain existing between the two and mutual applications of one branch to the other two-sided arrow).  Concrete examples of themes for these methodologies are shown in Table 1.  Here, recently emerging problems only are enumerated.  Traditional SAS subjects such as economics, operations research, management engineering, science history, scientific philosophy, industrial design etc are neglected.

Features of two branches

Besides above mentioned typical themes, there must be numerous SAS problems individually. It will therefore be very useful in order to establish SAS if we can grasp the typical features of two branches.  We choose four pairs of keywords; objects are nature and matter/human and society, objective (positive)/subjective, causally explain/understand in value and law-establishing/individually describing.  In Table 2, a few typical disciplines are chosen for two branches.  For science branch, general terms science and technology are given. Literary branch is divided into social and human sciences.  Former typical disciplines are economics and sociology.  Latter typical ones are psychology, history, literature and art. For each discipline nearly applicable keywords are noted by circular sign and partially applicable keywords by triangular one. Blank means almost inapplicable.  It is clearly seen that science and technology make nature and matter objects and are objective, causally explaining and law-establishing.  On the other hand, although main objects of literary branch are human and society, most disciplines share remaining three pairs of keywords except literature and art. It will therefore be quite difficult to define literary branch clearly using these keywords.  It seems appropriate to define science branch as fields studying nature and matter objectively and law-establishingly", and literary branch just simply as fields mainly studying human and society.

         (notes)  ○：nearly applicable, △：partially applicable

Information on ISAS

Based upon the above mentioned thought, we decided to establish a new institute where the two branches are united, synthesized and cooperated to solve such complicated problems as earth environments, life-medical ethics, network society and many other ones.  This institute was founded and named “Institute for the Synergy of Arts and Sciences (ISAS)” in October 23, 1996.  Now the number of members counts more than 400 persons.

Activities
1. Annual meeting (twice a year)
2. Publication of a journal (in Japanese, twice a year)
3. Set up of societies for the study of particular themes

Membership dues a year
Individual: \5,000, Students: \3,000, Legal Person: \100,000

Secretariat
ISAS

Department of Biological Science and Technology, 

School of High-Technology for Human Welfare, Tokai University
Nishino 317, Numazu, Shizuoka, 410-0395 Japan
Tel:0559-68-1111, Fax:0559-68-1156

E-mail: isas@sasrc.jp

Homepage: http://www.sasrc.jp/HP_Eng_1.htm

Chairman
Dr. M..Takatsuji
Visiting Professor of Tokyo University of Agriculture

References
M. Takatsuji: The Way of Thinking based on the Synergy of Arts and Sciences: 

                  Application to Psychocritique

                  - Junichiro Tanizaki Ukio Mishima,  Lautréamont -

                  (Synergy Research Center, 2004, 2nd edition 2007, in Japanese)

M. Takatsuji: Concept of the Synergy of Arts and Sciences (Maruzen, 1998, in Japanese)
M. Takatsuji: The Way of Thinking towards the Synergy of Knowledges
                  (Tokai University Press, 2000, in Japanese)