The activity at the source of this Institute was a Gathering entitled "An Attempt to Think about Human Beings from Science" (renamed SciPhi Café SHE in 2013) held in November 2011 in Tokyo. The prospectus at that time read as follows:
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After completing my research in the medical and life sciences in Tokyo, I began studying philosophy of science at the Sorbonne University in 2007. While reflecting on science, my own research activities, and the situation surrounding the world, I came to realize one major problem.
That is, we do not have a sufficient understanding of what has supported the human activity called science. This lack of understanding is connected to the lack of a perspective that tries to understand what lies behind what we can see and what is not easily accessible to the human eye.
And I have come to believe that this lack is not limited to science, but is a common trait in all fields in human activities. In a word, it is the lack of a philosophical attitude to return to the roots of things and to think within a larger framework. We have suffered a great deal of disadvantage because of this.
With this in mind, I have decided to create a place where we can review science from philosophical and historical perspectives, discuss how we can incorporate the ideas gained from this review into our daily lives, and finally, think together about the ultimate questions, such as "What is nature?", "What is life?" and "What is a human being?"
November 2011
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In the course of the above activities, I began to think that it might be a good idea to incorporate a perspective that approaches human beings from philosophy, in addition to a perspective that approaches human beings from science. In 2013, I decided to offer a place to think about human beings with a focus on "philosophy as a way of life" (PAWL). At the same time, I established the Institute for Science & Human Existence (ISHE) with five missions not only to support these two activities but also to create a platform for further development.
Subsequently, in 2014, Café Philo PAWL (Philosophy As a Way of Life) was realized. In 2016, the SciPhi Café SHE started in Sapporo, and in 2017, Bergson Café for reading and philosophizing in French and the SciPhi Forum FPSS (Forum of Philosophy of Science for Scientists) were added to the Institute's list of activities.
The year 2023 marked the 10th anniversary of ISHE's establishment. Looking forward to the future, I hope for more interesting and exciting discoveries as we move forward with our research.
Hidetaka Yakura
December 2023