Professor Hashimoto will have a seminar based on reading articles in Oxford Handbook of Environmental History and/or the journal Environmental History, concerning topics relating to the historical relationship between science/technology and environment. Topics of articles and the procedure of the seminar will be explained at the first session.
Professor Okamoto will conduct a reading seminar and/or give lectures on the history and current situation of the power industry in Japan. The reading assignments will be on three or four of the following issues: the establishment of the first electric light industry in Tokyo; jurists and physicists’ debate over electricity theft; attempts and failure in the frequency unification; the development of nuclear power in postwar Japan; reform of the industry after March 11, 2011; lessons of the Fukushima Nuclear Accident. More specifically, chapters and articles in the following publications may be assigned to read and discuss: J. Ahn et al. eds., Reflections on the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Accident, Springer, 2015, E.D. Blandford et al. eds., Learning from a Disaster, Stanford Security Studies, 2016, and Technology and Culture, 58:1 (2017).
Professor Ishihara will lecture on environmental philosophy, dealing with the following topics and issues: relationships between nature, animals, and humans; philosophical discussions on environmental issues; human mind and environment (extended mind hypothesis). Each student will be required to give a presentation on a topic related to the topics covered by the lecture.