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From distant Bologna to Hiroshima: Learning wisdom common to all humanity
The origins of ¡°jurisprudence¡± date back to The Twelve Tables, formerly promulgated around 450 BC, which formed the basis of Roman law. Japanese law also drew from the Tang Code from the 8th century. In the 11th century, the world's first school of law was established at the University of Bologna in Italy. Furthermore, "political science," which has its origins in ancient Greece, is a venerable discipline with a history so long that Aristotle called it the ¡°Queen of Sciences.¡± Building on these time-honored academic disciplines, ¡°sociology¡± has been reexamining various aspects of society from a modern perspective using the empirical method. At Â鶹AV's School of Law, such history is taken into consideration while allowing students to learn about the myriad of rules that are useful in actual social life and the "laws" that underpin them. Ultimately, there are "national structure" and "politics" that support legislation, as well as "society" that supports "politics." For example, when we consider the flaws in a certain law, they could be due to political reasons, stem from the social situation, etc. We are able to understand a single phenomenon in relation to many other fields. In our School of Law, we cultivate the ability to interpret and think about various issues that arise in society from the three perspectives of law, political science, and sociology, express our own opinions, and further develop these opinions through communication with others.
In today's highly digitalized society, skills such as simply collecting and compiling past knowledge have already become obsolete, and with the development of autonomous AI, even the role of lawyers may diminish in the future. Then, will society in the future be largely at the mercy of AI? What is the raison d'¨ºtre (meaning of existence) of human beings? To delve into this topic, one must be equipped with the multifaceted and robust ability to think deeply about the essence of things while learning from the wisdom of the various schools of thought that have supported the academic studies of the School of Law over the years. Learning from the wisdom common to all humanity, honed throughout history, is becoming increasingly important in solving various problems facing modern society and contributing to a sustainable world.
Professor YOSHINAKA, Nobuhito,
Dean, School of Law
