<座談会, 対談>『大学論』座談会

Abstract

The shape of university is now changing in Japan. This might be caused by the economical depression, the decline in the live birth rate in Japan and the economical globalization in the world. However, it is possible to adopt another reason such that there is a friction between many social system imported from Europe after the Meiji Restoration and Japanese own culture which has been stored since ancient times and it bursts out. For instance, social science researchers have pointed out that the word "Shakai", which means "society" in Japanese, and "Shimin" which means "citizens" or "civil" in Japanese, do not permeate in Japan. How about "Daigaku", which means "university" in Japanese? Does not it include the same problem as "Shakai" and "Shimin"? If so, because the universities are actually built in many cities, even though "Shakai" and "Shimin" are mere concept, we have to reconsider the definition of the university system; otherwise it would be impossible to maintain the system. Kyoto University is at a distance from the center of Japan, then it makes us view the situation objectively. Furthermore, as a member of the field of architecture, which has absorbed and has traversed a lot of other academic fields, we are responsible to indicate the next stage of Japan. Therefore, we planned a symposium titled "What is the definition of Daigaku".