This paper examines the question of how so-called indeterminate phrases in Japanese (Kuroda 1965) associate with relevant particles higher in the structure. In the universal construction in Japanese, the restrictor (provided by an indeterminate phrase) sometimes appears to be separate from the universal particle mo. It is proposed that quantification at a distance is only apparent, and that the restriction is in fact provided locally by the sister constituent of mo as a whole. The proposal leads us to a straightforward (...) uniform picture of the syntax-semantics mapping of the universal construction and wh-questions, building upon Hamblin’s (1973) semantics for wh-phrases as sets of alternatives. It allows for a switch of perspective on a long-standing puzzle regarding locality effects in the indeterminate–particle association by deriving the locality pattern from the way indeterminate phrases are interpreted and associated with particles, without any stipulations. (shrink)

生命倫理、環境倫理などの諸問題に目を据えながら、さらに「真に人間として生きることはいかなることであろうか」という私たちにとって永遠の究極的な問題に迫る。現在、世界的に見れば、飢えと戦乱に苦しむ地域もあ るのに、日本では、物質的な豊かさに溢れ、経済的効率性に社会が支配されている。その中に見失われた人間性の取り戻しこそ、いま、何よりも必要なことである。内面的な豊かさとしての生の充実を求めて、改めて、自己 自身に対して、意識を深く向けなおすべき時であろう。.

This paper looks at one area of potential crosslinguistic variation in comparatives. It has recently been claimed that Japanese clausal comparatives lack degree abstraction structures in the complement of yori ‘than’. Based on data from several empirical domains such as predicative adjectival comparatives, intensional contexts, and negative islands, this paper shows that Japanese clausal comparatives do not in general contrast with their English counterparts in the way predicted by the above claim. The syntactic and semantic phenomena observed in Japanese clausal (...) comparatives receive straightforward accounts if we assume that they do involve degree abstraction and degree comparison, along the lines familiar from analyses of their English counterparts. (shrink)

This paper reports the results of the latest in a series of expert surveys of party policy positions in Japan and considers some of the implications of these results for our understanding of party competition and government formation in recent Japanese politics.

Since 1993, coalition governments have replaced the 38-year-long, one-party dominance of the Liberal Democratic Party (the LDP) in Japan. Except for one year, from 1993 to 1994, the LDP has remained a key party in successive governing coalitions, but the dynamics of party competition has been completely transformed since the period of the LDP's dominance. Although the LDP has survived to form a variety of coalitions ranging from a minority to an over-sized majority, since 1998 the Democratic Party of Japan (...) (DPJ) has continued to counter the LDP governments. The transformation of party systems in Japan accompanies the party switching of legislators and the mergers, breakups, extinctions, and formations of parties. In this regard, the Japanese case provides an interesting example to show how parties attempt to change the dynamics of policy competition by switching and reorganizing. Parties also attempt to shift their policy positions to attract public support and to gain a competitive edge in government formation. Using expert survey data about the policy positions of parties, this study explicates the dynamics involved in the reorganization of parties and the formation of governments. (shrink)

The present study investigates the ways in which Japanese speakers negotiate their opinions in conversational interaction. On the one hand, speakers are apt to exaggerate a particular aspect of a given issue in asserting their opinion, on the other hand, they may also incorporate a self-qualification admitting a potential problem in their claim. By expressing their awareness of the problem before it is pointed out by the co-participants, the speakers seem to get license to proffer an exaggerated or overgeneralized claim (...) and to increase their chance of receiving an affiliative response. This study explicates the mechanism through which such a self-qualifying clause emerges in the development of opinion-negotiation sequences. Further, as a contribution to a growing body of research on "interaction and grammar" (Ochs, Schegloff, and Thompson, 1996), this study explores the use of "contrastive" markers, -kedo and demo, in constructing turns and sequences in opinion-negotiation. The data demonstrate these two structurally different types of markers play distinct roles in differentiating and yet conjoining the speakers' assertion and self-qualification. (shrink)

「権利」概念に対する「義務」、「人格主義」に対する「非人格」を基盤にした思考など、近代的人間観の矛盾を根底的に問うたヴェイユの思想と核心とその現代的意義を鮮やかに示す気鋭の野心作。第5回「河上肇賞」本 賞受賞作。.

Spirituality and religiosity have a significant impact on one's well-being. Although previous studies have indicated that the neuropeptide hormone oxytocin is associated with spirituality/religiosity, existing findings remain inconsistent. Some studies have reported a positive relationship between oxytocin and spirituality/religiosity, while other studies have reported a negative association. Herein, we examined the association between endogenous oxytocin and spirituality/religiosity in 200 non-Abrahamic Japanese individuals by measuring the level of salivary oxytocin and spiritual/religious faith. We found that the level of salivary oxytocin was (...) negatively associated with spiritual/religious faith. Individuals with higher levels of salivary oxytocin tend to have more negative spiritual/religious faith compared with those with low oxytocin levels. Moreover, this tendency was only significant in individuals who were not interested in a specific religion. The uniqueness of spirituality/religiosity in Japan could help interpret the current findings. (shrink)

This book contains a detailed description of philosophical trends in Japan since 1868, with a chronological table of relevant Japanese publications and an index of names.

This collection of essays analyzes relations of social inequality that appear to be logical extensions of a "natural order," and in the process demonstrates that a revitalized feminist anthropology of the 1990s has much to offer the field of feminist theory. Fashioned as a response to the lack of cultural analysis in feminist scholarship, the contributors question the category of gender within the inclusive context of the structural dynamics of inequality. They also examine how cultural identities, domains and institutions affect (...) our perception of gender in society. The first selection of essays addresses how ideas of family and kinship have fostered society's hierarchies and legitimized the status quo. In part two, the essays show how several dimensions of inequality are implicit in the construction of identities that are based upon ideas of social solidarity. Contributors: Susan McKinnon, University of Virginia; Kath Weston, Arizona State West; Rayna Rapp, New School for Social Research; Janet Dolgin, Hofstra University; Harriet Whitehead, Duke University; Carol Delaney, Stanford University; Brackette Williams, University of Arizona; Sylvia Yanagisako, Stanford University; Phyllis Chock, Catholic University; Sherry Ortner, University of Michigan; Anna Tsing, University of California, Santa Cruz. (shrink)

"Deep Words contains translations of "Honso, the "Core Text" of "Gengo, by Miura Baien, 1723-1789 - a widely renowned Japanese teacher and writer of his time; ...

Peptides possessing both natriuretic and smooth muscle relaxant activities have been isolated from heart atria and their structures have been determined. The peptides designated ANP (atrial natriuretic peptide) regulate salt and water balance and blood pressure. The scope of this article is to provide a summary of recent research developments directed towards understanding the molecular nature of atrial natriuretic peptides.

ABSTRACTWe tested the response dynamics of the evaluative priming effect using a mouse tracking procedure that records hand movements during the execution of categorisation tasks. In Experiment 1, when participants performed the evaluative categorisation task but not the non-evaluative semantic categorisation task, their mouse trajectories for evaluatively incongruent trials curved more toward the opposite response than those for evaluatively congruent trials, indicating the emergence of evaluative priming effects based on response competition. In Experiment 2, implementing a task-switching procedure in which (...) evaluative and non-evaluative categorisation tasks were intermixed, we obtained reliable evaluative priming effects in the non-evaluative semantic categorisation task as well as in the evaluative categorisation task when participants assigned attention to the evaluative stimulus dime... (shrink)

In motion-induced blindness , a target within rotating random dots is occasionally hidden from observers’ consciousness during observation. In the present study, a red ring-like cue was centered on a target and presented immediately after observers reported subjective disappearance of the target in MIB . The radius of the cue was systematically modulated. Observers quickly regained awareness of the disappeared object only after they were provided with a pinpoint cue of its location. We also found that a flickering cue at (...) 1 Hz hindered MIB when the radius of the cue was critically small . Furthermore, abrupt onset of a small square was enough to regain awareness of the target . Successful revival of the target with a small cue indicates that critical spatial distribution of visual attention determines what in the visual scene is included in visual awareness. (shrink)

Alternative cleavage and polyadenylation (APA) can diversify coding and non‐coding regions, but has particular impact on increasing 3′ UTR diversity. Through the gain or loss of regulatory elements such as RNA binding protein and microRNA sites, APA can influence transcript stability, localization, and translational efficiency. Strikingly, the central nervous systems of invertebrate and vertebrate species express a broad range of transcript isoforms bearing extended 3′ UTRs. The molecular mechanism that permits proximal 3′ end bypass in neurons is mysterious, and only (...) beginning to be elucidated. This landscape of neural 3′ UTR extensions, many reaching unprecedented lengths, may help service the unique post‐transcriptional regulatory needs of neurons. A combination of approaches, including transcriptome‐wide profiling, genetic screening to identify APA factors, biochemical dissection of alternative 3′ end formation, and manipulation of individual neural APA targets, will be necessary to gain fuller perspectives on the mechanism and biology of neural‐specific 3′ UTR lengthening. (shrink)

Biological forms are very complex, and mechanisms of pattern formation are not well understood. Although developmental biology deals with the mechanistic explanation of patterns, currently we do not know how to understand the mechanisms of pattern formation from huge amounts of molecular information. In this article, I present one useful tool, mathematical modeling, to obtain a mechanistic understanding of biological pattern formation, and show an actual example in lung branching morphogenesis. In this example, mathematical modeling plays an indispensable role in (...) understanding the biological phenomena. The model successfully reproduces the basic features of morphogenesis in vitro, but mechanism in vivo still remains to be elucidated. (shrink)

Since the 1990s, the relation between liberalism and colonialism has been one of the most important issues in Locke studies and also in the field of modern political thought. This present work is a unique contribution to discussion of this issue in that it elucidates Lockeâ (TM)s concept of the law of nature and his view of war. Lockeâ (TM)s law of nature includes, despite its ostensible universal validity, some particular rules which favour the rights of a European form of (...) political society and individualistic land-acquisition at the sacrifice of native traditional land-rights and subsistence. Concerning wars between settlers and the natives, Lockeâ (TM)s concept of â oepunishmentâ in state of nature allows the militarily superior side to make a war with the inferior in disregard for the latterâ (TM)s claim and nevertheless, after winning victory, proclaim its own just cause of war. By putting Lockeâ (TM)s discourse on colonization and war in the context of contemporary relations between English colonists and the natives, this book makes clear that the expansive element of his theory of property actually overbalanced his rule of limitation of property according to equitableness and that it, after all, undermines the general principles of freedom and equality of all in his law of nature. (shrink)