Center for Advanced Research on Logic and Sensibility - The Global Centers of Excellence Program, Keio University

Life in modern society is fraught with a variety of serious and peculiar mental health problems. These problems often result in devastating consequences such as bullying, self-mutilation, and suicide, especially, in children and young adults. It is believed that many of today's mental health problems arise when the two critical dimensions of the human mind, logic and sensibility, lose their harmonious coexistence and come into conflict with each other. Accordingly, it is important to acquire a good understanding of the relationship between logic and sensibility not only as a task of basic science, but also as a means to provide critical information for the development of viable solutions to the mental health problems surrounding today's society.

The Centre for Advanced Research on Logic and Sensibility (CARLS) has two main objectives: 1) To study the relationship between logic (or rationality) and sensibility (or emotion) as a means to resolve conflicts which are often the main cause of today's most pressing mental health problems; and 2) To build a premier education and research center for the study of logic and sensibility, where young researchers are trained to understand and increase their knowledge of divers disciplines in both the humanities and experimental sciences. More precisely, we shall try to answer the following questions:

a)   How are logic and sensibility processed and integrated in the human neural system? At which point in phylogenetical histories did logical judgment and decision-making appear? Which aspects of the logical judgment process are unique to humans?

b)   What is the genetic basis of logic and sensibility? How does the nature of logic and sensibility change through development?

c)    What roles does the knowledge of language play in the relationship of logic and sensibility?

d)   What are the cultural restrictions to logic and sensibility? How are these restrictions transformed through the process of globalization?

e)    How is human sensibility involved in logical judgment in terms of logic and informatics?

With a view to answering these questions, the CARLS consist of five main education and research teams, each of which focuses its activity on themes specific to its own field and, at the same time, highly relevant to other disciplines. These themes include: 1) Brain and Evolution, 2) Genetics and Development, 3) Language and Cognition, 4) Philosophy and Cultural Anthropology, and 5) Logic and Informatics.

The CARLS is financially supported by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology within the framework of the Global COE program.