Science and Morality: Their Bases Are Supported by the Power of Imagination
Issued October 10, 2009

HATADA Koichi,

Professor Emeritus, Osaka University and
Chairman of Osaka Owners Association ofRegistered Tangible Cultural Properties of Japan
HAYASHI Yoshihisa, Project Chief, Cultural Properties Protection
Section, Osaka Prefectural Board of Education
SHIBUYA Wataru,
Teacher of Hyogo Prefectural Toyo-oka SeniorHigh School(English translation by Susumu Kuwabara)

In recent years, there seem to be increasing opportunities for us to see and hear news of events whichcause us to wonder what has happened to the moral ability or professional ethics of the individual (ref. 1).
Now that sciences and technologies are making marked advances to such a stage that they permeate deep
into our everyday life, we feel we need to deal with the moral ability required of each and every citizen
including scientists and engineers, in ways different from the past. In 1903, Antoine Henri Becquerel,
Maria Curie and Pierre Curie were co-honored with the Nobel Prize in Physics in recognition of theextraordinary services they have rendered by their joint researches on the radiation phenomena. In hisAward Address given in commemoration of the 1903 Nobel Prize awarded to him, Pierre Curie, the husbandof Maria Curie, stated that while radium serves many useful purposes, such as treatment of cancer, it would
also create great danger if and when used in crimes, but that he is one of those who believe with Nobel thatmankind will derive more good than harm from the new discoveries (ref. 2). More than one hundred years ago,
he already pointed out sharply the relationship of humans to sciences and technologies from the side ofmorality. In this article, we would like to give some consideration to man’s moral ability from theviewpoint that the bases of morality and science are both supported by the ability to surmise, based on theknowledge in one’s possession, in one way or another what humans have never experienced in real situation.
This ability is the very power of imagination.
Science Is Based on Imaginative Power (Creation is the Result of Accumulation of Imagination): In 1895,
Wilhelm Roentgen of Germany discovered X-ray while he was conducting research on low-pressure gas
discharge. This discovery led to the imagination that “X-rays might be emitted also from fluorescentmaterials”, and further to the investigation of uranium compound, one of fluorescent materials, by
Antoine Henri Becquerel of France, who was then studying fluorescent materials, and finally to his
discovery in 1896 of permeable radiation which is emitted from uranium irrespective of fluorescentphenomena. Stimulated by Becquerel’s discovery, Maria Curie chose radioactivity as the theme for her
doctoral thesis at the end of 1897, and discovered in 1898 polonium first and then radium, with the helpof her husband Pierre Curie who successfully developed a device to measure radiation dosequantitatively, by paying attention to the fact that more radiation is emitted from uranium ores thanfrom pure uranium and by chemically isolating “the new elements contained in uranium ores that emit
powerful radiation” (ref. 3). In the world of natural science, knowledge and the imagination based
thereon tend to lead to new discoveries and the creation of new materials or concepts.
Natural science constitutes an academic field in which one closely observes various phenomena
occurring in nature and investigates their mechanisms. Through these processes, scientists exert
themselves to create new things or new concepts. Imagination would be required when creating new1

things or new concepts. At first they set up a new thing or new concept as a top-priority matter, and thendevelop imagination to create it based on the knowledge, methodology and concepts which they haveaccumulated till then. With these steps as the basis, they try to explore ways and means to arrive at a newthing or new concept while conducting experiments, hearing opinions from others and having discussion
with them. If and when these steps do not turn out well by any means, they utilize imagination again tosearch other ways and means. Excellent ideas or intuition that come up during this process are born fromimaginative power. Once its objective is achieved and a new thing or new concept is created by repeating
the process of putting imagination to practice and verifying its results, the accumulated results of one’s
imagination is evaluated as one’s creativity. How to set one’s objectives at first which are meaningfulfrom a social standpoint as well as from a scientific viewpoint also depends on imaginative power. Hencethe basic power of science is considered imaginative power (ref. 4).
Moral Ability Is Rooted in Imaginative Power: Meanwhile, moral ability is based on the ability to
exercise proper judgment on what kind of attitude humans should take toward other people and naturalenvironment including animals and plants. One needs to verify one’s own judgment in order to acquire
the ability to make such a judgment and to improve it. To make it possible, one has to be capable ofcommunicating with things other than humans as well as animals and plants. Since those things otherthan humans as well as animals and plants do not speak human language, one can only rely on
imagination to communicate with them. It is also necessary to learn from the past and forecast future if
one wishes to live a proper life as a member of society, and to inherit culture and pass it down to future
generations. For such a purpose, communication with the deceased or those to be borne from now bymaking full use of imagination will also be required. At times even mutual understanding with those whoare capable of having a dialog verbally may require use of imaginative power. The way to use imaginative
power cannot help varying with the country, age, and experience of the other party. Another man’s
judgment within oneself like a judge within a human being, who gives us the criterion for one’s judgment,
normally varies slightly with each person. Accordingly, when one thinks how to behave toward the otherparty, it becomes necessary to make a judgment considering the other party’s criterion for judgment byusing one’s imagination. Given this perspective, the fundamental power to exert moral ability turns out
to be imaginative power like the fundamental power of science. The source of power to live one’s life
might as well be said to be imaginative power (ref. 4).
Thus, it follows that scientists are individuals blessed with a wealth of imagination. At the same time, italso follows that, only if they have a proper criterion for judging the difference between good and evil,
they can prove themselves individuals capable of not only unleashing superb creativity but also
possessing high moral ability. The possibility of science being abused by the thinking of scientists
themselves, as feared by Pierre Curie, may as well be considered extremely low. It would be reasonable toconsider that the abuse of science, such as nuclear arms, has resulted from the undue pressure exerted on
scientists, which has been caused due to the lack of understanding and the low moral ability on the partof the civil society toward science.
At this point, we would like to stress that when using radiation for medical treatment, the negative sideof science, which may damage the patient’s health to some extent by exposing the patient to radiation,
should not be confused with the abuse of science. The negative side of science, such as health problems
due to medical radiation and side-effects of medication, are almost unavoidable to some extent even if
treatment is performed by a physician with superb capability and high moral ability. It is the importantmission and duty of scientists to maximize the plus side of science and minimize the minus side of science,and citizens must offer full cooperation to this mission with the awareness that they should not just sit
back leaving the mission to scientists alone. However, scientists need to give to interested citizens athorough understanding of the problem involved and its meaning so that they may securecommunication with those citizens to gain their support. Also this is the process which calls into question
the levels of cultural accomplishments and imaginative power on both sides of scientists and citizens.
2How to Foster the Power of Imagination: Then, how can we foster imaginative power? Anybody can
imagine at any time and at any place. We remember that during our childhood we did not get boredseeing human faces or animals or at times even horrible devils pop up before our eyes when we stared at
the wood grain of the high ceiling in dim light. Traditional Japanese wooden houses are full of structures,
utensils and devices for daily life that show various ways of life of the people who lived in those houses.
Those houses stimulate imagination and enable us to talk with the people who lived there in the days
gone by or with the people who will be born from now and who may live there. Thus, old houses are
considered as the classrooms that have potential educational power, i.e. the power of housing education(refs. 1, 5 and 6). They offer to children the world of imagination that they would like to keep it tothemselves as a secret as well as the world of fantasy that cannot be shared with the other people. We are
wondering if it is likely that those children who are privileged to spend leisure time playing in such places
would be able to go, as they grow, into the world of imagination which is sharable with the other people
and, what’s more, blessed with abundant individuality.
When many people lived in old traditional wooden houses, such as registered tangible culturalproperties and cherished their residences with fond memories of their grandfathers and grandmothers
who had built those houses, their children were able to foster their imaginative power and enhance theirmoral ability quite naturally. However, there is practically no such an environment these days. Therefore,
it is necessary to devise ways to make up for the lack of such an environment and improve theimaginative power of present-day children. Inspection tours of cultural properties by elementary-school
pupils or extension lessons by the owners of cultural properties for them are a few examples of suchapproaches, but basically it is important to make efforts to develop their imaginative power and further
their ability to display it at their schools, local communities and homes.
In order to enrich imaginative power, abundance of knowledge is required as its root. The broader andthe deeper the knowledge is, the better. Like picky eating that is bad for health, learning only those
things necessary for taking examinations will not foster well-rounded imaginative power and cannot be
said to be a real way of learning.
It is no exaggeration to say that imaginative power is required not only for fostering moral ability but
also for learning all subjects in school education. Understanding difficult points of school lessons starts
with children trying to interpret such points respectively in their own ways by using their imaginative
power. There are various ways of judging whether their interpretation is correct or not. One way would
be to have discussion with their teachers or friends. Another way would be to go to a library and staythere to peruse books kept in the library. At this stage, children would realize by themselves that
adequate knowledge is needed to arouse imagination, and they come to develop interest and curiosity invarious phenomena and things regardless of their own likes and dislikes. We hope the Japanese people
will deeply recognize that one of the important objects of “integrated studies” lay in this point.
Acquiring knowledge requires learning by heart. The difference between the recorder and the humanbrain lies in the point that we can comprehend knowledge and strengthen our memory by using ourimaginative power in our own way to correlate the memories of various facts. Such a method ofmemorization, unlike mere rote memorization, will not cause imaginative power to be lost but rather
strengthen it. If imaginative power is lost by memorization, it is not because of the memorization but
because of the way it was done. The ability to imagine, think and judge, and the ability to memorize arepositioned opposite to each other. It is a matter of no importance that which is important or which is notimportant. They are considered to act and function like the two wheels of one cart.
The phase of imagination must be most enjoyable for children. As mentioned above, anybody can
imagine at any time and at any place. Also, even children are capable of generating new ideas throughimagination or in other words carrying imagination to creation. Excessive study for passing entrance
examination or cram education is feared to rob children of this joy of imagination, wither their
imaginative power or curiosity, and cause those children to lack creativity. The purpose of study by3children is to develop their imaginative power and elevate it so that they will grow to become men andwomen with high moral ability who are capable of contributing to the welfare of mankind.
Criterion for Fair Judgment: However abundant one’s imagination may be, if the judgment based on it
should hurt human happiness, such a person cannot be said to have a wealth of moral ability. One must
always have a criterion in oneself for making a fair judgment. This criterion is purely personal, but what
is important is that it must be accepted by many people and must produce happiness for people. At thispoint, we would like to introduce to you the following four-way test advocated by the RotaryInternational, whose members include one of our authors, Koichi Hatada. This test is considered as acriterion for professional ethics, and represents the Rotary International’s philosophy in simple andstraight terms.
＜The Four-Way Test＞
Of the things we think, say or do
Is it the truth?
Is it fair to all concerned?
Will it build good will and better friendship?
Will it be beneficial to all concerned?
When we think of doing something, this test is the criterion for us to make fair judgment which allows us
to take action if answers to all the four questions above are given in the affirmative. We hope they willserve as a good reference for you when you think of any criterion for making your own judgment.
In conclusion, we would like to touch upon the point that the moral ability currently in our mind may be
too people-oriented. According to the recent report (ref. 7) issued by IUCN (International Union for theConservation of Nature and Natural Resources), one fourth (1,141 species) of the world’s mammals arefacing extinction, affected mainly by human activities. On the verge of extinction now are 188 species of
those mammals, and it is too late to save 29 species of them (ref. 8). The fact is that such a situation has
been brought about by the daily activities of the human beings, one species of the mammals, with the
influence of science and technology to some extent. Man’s way of thinking about morality up to now has
been narrow in range with too much emphasis on the human side. We would like to conclude this article
by pointing out that we have now entered the age when the moral and ethical values of scientists andengineers need to be reviewed anew.
References:(1) Koichi Hatada, Yoshihisa Hayashi: “Potential of Housing Education through the Architectures ofRegistered Tangible Cultural Properties of Japan and Moral Education,” May 22, 2008 (Japanese)
http://culture-h.jp/hatadake-katsuyo/tohroku-dohtoku.pdf(2) a) Takashi Nakanishi, Lecture Meeting for Citizens at Kanazawa University: Summary of “Lecture
Meeting in Memory of 100th Anniversary Commemorating the Discovery of Radium by Mr. and Mrs.
Curie”, page 6. (Japanese) b) Pierre Curie, Award Address for 1903 Nobel Prize for Physics
http://www.aip.org/history/curie/recdis2.htm(3) Takashi Nakanishi, Lecture Meeting for Citizens at Kanazawa University: Summary of “Lecture
Meeting in Memory of 100th Anniversary Commemorating the Discovery of Radium by
Mr. and Mrs. Curie”, page 7 (Japanese)(4) Koichi Hatada, Yoshihisa Hayashi, Wataru Shibuya: “Moral Ability and Imaginative Power, “4Feb. 5, 2009 (Japanese)
http://culture-h.jp/hatadake-katsuyo/dohtoku-sohzoh.pdf(5) Koichi Hatada, Yoshihisa Hayashi: “Potential of Housing Education through Traditional
Wooden Houses and Preservation/Succession of Historical Architecture”, July 1, 2007 (Japanese)
http://www.culture-h.jp/tohroku-osaka/jyuiku-pdf.pdf(6)Koichi Hatada, Yoshihisa Hayashi, “Potential of Housing Education through Traditional Wooden
Houses and Preservation/Succession of Historical Architecture”, June 1, 2008 (English)
http://culture-h.jp/hatadake-katsuyo-english/housing.ed.pdf(7) “The Status of the World's Land and Marine Mammals: Diversity, Threat, and Knowledge” Jan
Schipper et al., Science, Vol. 322.No. 5899, 10 October 2008, pp. 225 – 230
https://dspace.stir.ac.uk/dspace/bitstream/1893/783/2/Schipper_etal_SOM.pdf(8) “Vox Populi, Vox Dei” published in the Asahi Shimbun, Nov. 15, 2008 (Japanese)
This article has been published after partial revision, with necessary permission, of the original article inJapanese which appeared in “Koichi Hatada, Yoshihisa Hayashi and Wataru Shibuya, Annual Report No.
8 of Conservation Association of Hatada House, pages 5～6 ”.
http://culture-h.jp/hatadake-katsuyo/nenpo8.pdf

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