The aim of this short essay is to further reflect on sociology in Japan by supplementing discussions on the three sociological papers compiled in this volume and adding critical perspectives. Discussions, and arguments, will be provided on the three thematic categories, namely, , sociology of culture as well as language use, and the global academic market, the latter addressing not merely sociology but also other social sciences.

Chaotic dynamics can be related to analog computation. A possibility of electronically implementing the chaos -driven contracting system in the target article is explored with an analog electronic circuit with inevitable noise from the viewpoint of analog computation with chaotic neurons.

It has long been observed that the superlative construction, exemplified by John climbed the highest mountain, has two readings. On the absolute reading, the heights of the relevant mountains in a relevant context are compared; on the comparative reading, relevant climbers’ achievements of mountain climbing are compared (Szabolcsi, Comparative superlatives, MIT Working Papers in Linguistics, 1986). Two theories have been proposed regarding this ambiguity. One theory holds that it results from movement of the superlative morpheme -est (movement theory) (Heim, Association (...) with focus, Doctoral Dissertation, 1985, Notes on superlatives, 1999; Szabolcsi 1986).The other theory holds that the ambiguity is derived by assignment of different values to the context variable C, keeping a single LF structure where -est stays in situ (in-situ theory) (Farkas and Kiss, Nat Lang Linguist Theory 18:417–455, 2000; Sharvit and Stateva, Linguist Philos 25:453–504, 2002). As is pointed out by Heim (1999), a choice between these theories is hard to make based solely on English. Through an investigation of Japanese superlative constructions, this paper argues that, in Japanese at least, a movement theory is required. (shrink)

The first English translation of a forty-year-old Japanese classic--Nishitani's treatment of the problem of nihilism, with particular reference to Nietzsche's philosophical ideas, and from a perspective influenced by Buddhist thought. Paper edition, $14.95. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.

In philosophy of language, contribution from continental philosophy is scarcely examined or acknowledged although Deleuze’s criticism against truth-conditional semantics is worth consideration. I examine his peculiar phenomenological theory of possible-world semantics that draws on analytic function. It contains a meta-semantic theory of emergence, which describes how individuality and personhood originate from the impersonal and pre-individual field. This is a type of meaning theory different from the truth-conditional ones, and I argue that it supplements the latter with the philosophy of mind.