Hello, this is Kikushima from the iU blog!
This time I’d like to introduce a book called “The Classroom of Justice”.
What kind of book is “The Classroom of Justice”?
This book is a philosophy book like a novel.
The story takes place in a private high school where a student’s suicide due to bullying leads to the installation of surveillance cameras throughout the school. The protagonist, who is the student council president, has to think deeply about “what is justice?
The story features three high school girls who have different views on justice: equality, freedom, and religion, and together with the protagonist, they learn about the characteristics and problems of each justice.
This book is easy to understand because it is in the form of a story, and even people who are not very interested in philosophy can read it because they can enjoy the story while learning about philosophy.
The reason I read this book was because I was wondering why there are so many different principles and ideas in the world. As a result, I found it very interesting and easy to understand.
What’s the point of learning philosophy?
What kind of image do you have of philosophy?
In high school ethics, there are a lot of people who think that it is difficult and boring, and that there is no point in learning it.
However, there are more and more situations where philosophy is becoming important in business.
For example, AI and self-driving technology are easy examples: it is currently impossible to teach AI about justice and ethics, and AI cannot think about things like the trolley problem. So it needs to be judged and programmed by humans.
I heard that there is a position called philosophy consulting at GAFA and other Western companies.
So let’s all work together to develop the ability to ask what it means to think philosophically instead of just memorizing terms and people!
Highlights of “The Classroom of Justice”
The main character, who is the student body president, decides at the school assembly whether or not to abolish the system of surveillance cameras throughout the school. If you read the book while thinking about what kind of decision the main character makes in the end, what you would do, and why you made that choice, you will feel that you have done philosophy.
The philosopher Bentham advocates utilitarianism (the principle that the happiness of many people is good), which is based on the premise that we can measure the degree of happiness of everyone. He calls these “happy points” in his book, and they’re easy to understand!
This is the kind of book I want people to read!
I especially recommend it to people who are interested in philosophy but don’t know where to start!
This book is so easy to understand that even people who didn’t understand the meaning of their high school ethics class should read it, so I think it’s a perfect introduction.
If you are interested in philosophy after reading this book, I recommend you to read the commentaries of Socrates, Plato, Nietzsche, and other philosophers to enjoy them more deeply!
About the author of “The Justice Classroom”
The author, who goes by the name Yumcha, is a graduate of Tohoku University and also runs a company.
He has a graduate degree from Tohoku University and also runs a company. “Justice Classroom” became popular after he started a blog where he explains in an easy-to-understand way about philosophy, chemistry, and other hard-to-understand genres.
He has also published a book called “The Strongest Introduction to Philosophy Ever”, which you can check out if you’re interested!
Finally
I hope this has sparked your interest in philosophy!
Also, if you’re too lazy to read the book, I recommend watching the YouTube video by a guy named Piyopiyo Bulletin! It introduces the ideas of philosophers and great historical figures in an animation format that is so easy to understand that even elementary school students can understand it. I’m sure you’ll find your questions answered!
