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Graduate School of Letters

The Graduate School of Letters offers degree programs aimed at pursuing the fundamental issues regarding humanity and human culture in order to better cope with an increasingly complex modern society.

Outline

The History and Goal of the Graduate School of Letters

The Graduate School of Letters of Doshisha University was launched in 1950 when graduate schools were newly established as a result of the Japanese school system’s reorganization. With the expansion of the domains of specialized academic fields, the number of courses in the Graduate School steadily increased, eventually reaching eleven courses. In the 2005 academic year, the Graduate School of Letters was restructured , with the Graduate School of Social Studies being established as a separate body. As a result, the Graduate School of Letters was reorganized into six courses: Philosophy, English Literature and English Linguistics, Cultural History, Psychology, Japanese Literature, and Aesthetics and Art Theory. Plans are currently under way for the Psychology Course to be separated from the Graduate School of Letters and established as the Graduate School of Psychology from the 2009 academic year (application processing is now in progress). Each course of the Graduate School of Letters is comprised of a master’s program and a doctoral program.

The Graduate School of Letters pursue the goal of “teaching and studying theories and applications of human knowledge, with a respect for the academic freedom and the spirit of Christianity, and mastering the depths of learning in order to contribute to the advancement of human culture.” The master’s program aims to nurture extensive academic knowledge and research abilities that are essential for pursuing a career in research or work in a highly-advanced specialized field. The objective of the doctoral program is to cultivate a broad perspective and profound academic knowledge, as well as highly-advanced independent research abilities.

Fully based on these objectives and visions, it is the goal and mission of the Graduate School of Letters to fundamentally and systematically understand humankind, as well as its linguistic and cultural activities in their entirety, and through rigorous and earnest research and education of these themes, send highly-competent people forth into the world who are capable of carving out a path to a new era with their deep insight into the essence of humankind and its cultures, even amidst the dramatic changes and transformations in today’s society.

Asking “What is it to be human?”

In an increasingly complex and diversified society, there is a demand for the reconstruction of high-level intelligence. For the research and education undertaken at graduate schools as well, the demand has been growing for treating academic study not merely as the systematic accumulation of knowledge, but for viewing it as building within each and every learner, an organic intelligent network that spreads out over various specialized fields to deal with what could be called “clinical” applications of intelligence. In today’s world, where globalization is progressing in every field, internationally-oriented education that enables people not only to thoroughly understand their own culture, but also to broaden their understanding of other cultures is becoming indispensable.

Amidst these circumstances, it is of the greatest importance that we return to the fundamental question of “What is it to be human?” which has always been at the heart of academic learning. This is because changes in society are brought about by human desires, ambitions, and ideals, and unless we first have a fundamental understanding of these human aspects, it would be impossible to clinically respond to various urgent and critical issues in our society. It is the answer to this very question that the Graduate School of Letters has been constantly seeking through the study of the humanities. The courses in the Graduate School of Letters are undertaking the same task of developing insights into human beings from their respective perspectives to precisely clarify the issue of the past and present. At the same time, it is also hoped that each and every graduate student is nurtured to acquire the academic knowledge, in the true sense of the word, and researching skills that will enable him/her to create and articulate a vision of what a well-developed personality and society should be like in the future.

Each graduate school of Doshisha University is undertaking efforts to become “a world-class education and research center” in its respective specialized field. In the Graduate School of Letters, too, efforts are being made to achieve the same goals in the specialized field of humanities, in the broad sense of the word, as well as in each course, where each field has undergone further specialization. The Graduate School of Letters has been pursuing the same universal question of “What is it to be human?”; it is this question that must continue to be pursued through new ways of asking the question and by using new research methods. It is only by undertaking these efforts that we can look directly at and understand the changes going on in today’s world, and ultimately know where and in what form the universal value of being human now lies. Intelligence in its entirety, or a system of value governing today’s world, must be clinically restructured; in other words, to conform to the world as a whole where all humans live. It is with great anticipation that the Graduate School of Letters awaits those young scholars who are willing to join hands with us in our shared endeavor to carry forth this grand and magnificent mission.

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