I read these books on the same day and put my records here.

废除文科学部的冲击

This book starts with fake news that the Japanese government will remove liberal arts from universities. The author discusses this fake news and extends the topics to that what universities should be.

It’s commonly viewed in Japan that “liberal arts are useless (when compared with engineering and science) but they shouldn’t be removed”. The author argues that liberal arts have long-term value to society which is often neglected by the public. He puts that Liberal arts study human minds and question human societies. (Original Chinese translation: 人类社会学科是怀疑人类自身的知识领域.)

In the second half of this book, the author discusses the problems encountered by the Japanese university system. It focuses too much on engineering and sciences techniques and skills, but too little on the arts part which help students become well-rounded citizens.

I tend to compare China with Japan, and often find they are very similar to each other:

  1. It’s hard to get an offer from a University but relatively easy to a degree.
  2. Students take university time as some gapping time between high school and the job market, but not a place to educate themselves into better citizens.
  3. The birth rate is declining and the criteria for getting offers from top universities is sliding down. Universities will compromise their education quality and advertise them as an easy place to get a college degree.

This book really helps me reflect on my own college life. I’m glad that I was doing the right things during that time though I didn’t have any guide.

I think this is a good book, especially for the second half part.

为了生命闪耀之日

This book starts with a case that a couple who wants to leave their baby to death because the baby is born with Down syndrome.

I find I have different answers to similar questions extended from this case when reading the book:

  1. Should we leave the baby to death in this case?
    • It depends on the parents. I will do so if I were them.
  2. Should we leave the old to death if they can’t add value to society anymore?
    • No. At least not for this reason.
  3. Should we kill all babies if we have to measure their IQ and found their IQ is low?
    • No. Perhaps Yes in the future if low IQ is considered a disability and society can’t take care of them.
  4. Should we advocate racism?
    • No.

I feel my thoughts get clear when writing the above content. I think it’s ethical to let humans die if they are unconscious and the burden of taking care of them will fall on individuals. The argument is pretty like the ones for abortion rights. We should be care about the extended questions because they can be misleading even the context is only slightly changed.

This book is all about different views on these debates. I feel it’s helpful to read it to let yourself think about these debates. However, this book only flows on the surface of these debates and can’t give you deep insights at a philosophical level.