Japanese Association for the Contemporary and Applied Philosophy (JACAP)
Doi
Abstract
本稿は、京都生命倫理研究会2021年3月例会（2021年3月20日、オンライン）での発表「日本人とロボット --テクノアニミズム論への批判」に基づく。The implications any technology has on society depend not only on its intrinsic properties, but also on the cultural features of the society in which the technology is embedded. Therefore, when envisioning ethical norms for the introduction of social robots into society, we must consider the culture surrounding robots. It is often said that Japanese people have a unique cultural attitude toward artificial objects, including robots, that Westerners do not have. One of the frequently cited Japanese attitudes is “techno-animism, ” that is, the attitude of recognizing the “anima (魂)” of artificial objects and trying to establish an affinity with them, which is based on the religious background of animism. It is sometimes argued that the existence of such an attitude is Japan’s advantage in realizing a “human-machine co-existence society.” The “techno-animism theory, ” which praises techno-animism as an attitude peculiar to Japan, has gained widespread acceptance among fields including the Japanese robot community. In this paper, citing some findings of human-robot interaction and historical research on the relationship between humans and animalsthe environment, I examine the techno-animism theory by asking the following questions: “Is the Japanese people’s attitude toward robots animistic and friendly?”; “Is this attitude rooted in Japanese tradition?”; and “Is the animistic and friendly attitude toward robots suitable as the foundation of a human-machine co-existence society?” I conclude that the techno-animism theory is highly doubtful in all these respects. I also give a general consideration of the relationship between technology and culture, and make a suggestion on the image-building strategy the Japanese robot community should take
