Updated on 2024/07/03

写真a

 
KOBAYASHI, Takuto
 
Affiliation
Faculty of Political Science and Economics, School of Political Science and Economics
Job title
Assistant Professor(non-tenure-track)
Degree
Doctor of Political Science ( 2023.03 Waseda University )
Master of Arts in Politics ( 2017.03 Waseda University )
Bachelor of Arts ( 2015.03 International Christian University )
Mail Address
メールアドレス
Profile

Research Field: Analytic Political Philosophy, Normative Political Theory

Specialization: Democratic Theory, Social/Relational Equality, Political Legitimacy and Authority, Distributive Justice

I am currently working on the theorization of comparative evaluative standards for political decision-making procedures.

Relatedly, I am also interested in moral philosophy, legal philosophy, and value theory.

 

Research Experience

  • 2023.04
    -
    Now

    Waseda University   School of Political Science and Economics   Assistant Professor (non-tenure-track)

  • 2020.04
    -
    Now

    Waseda University   Waseda Institute of Political Economy   Special Research Fellow

  • 2020.04
    -
    2023.03

    Waseda University   Faculty of Political Science and Economics   Research Associate

  • 2018.04
    -
    2020.03

    Japan Society for the Promotion of Science   Research Fellow (DC2)

  • 2019
    -
    　

    Waseda University   Graduate School of Political Science   Teaching Assistant

  • 2019
    -
    　

    Waseda University   School of Education   Teaching Assistant

  • 2017
    -
    　

    Waseda University   Department of Political Science and Economics   Teaching Assistant

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Education Background

  • 2017.04
    -
    2023.03

    Waseda University   Graduate School of Political Science   Doctoral Program  

  • 2015.04
    -
    2017.03

    Waseda University   Graduate School of Political Science   Master of Arts Program  

  • 2011.04
    -
    2015.03

    International Christian University   College of Liberal Arts  

Committee Memberships

  • 2022.04
    -
    2023.03

    Japan Association of Political Economy  Assistant for Administrative Office

  • 2020.04
    -
    2023.03

    Waseda Society of Political Science and Economics  Assistant for Editorial Board, Waseda Journal of Political Science and Economics

Professional Memberships

  • 2019
    -
    Now

    Japanese Political Science Association

  • 2018
    -
    Now

    The Japanese Conference for the Study of Political Thought

  • 2017
    -
    Now

    Japan Association of Political Economy

Research Areas

  • Politics   Political Philosophy, Normative Political Theory / Philosophy and ethics   Moral Philosophy, Value Theory

Research Interests

  • Political Philosophy

  • Normative Political Theory

  • Democratic Theory

  • Social Egalitarianism

  • Political Authority

  • Political Legitimacy

  • Distributive Justice

  • Moral Philosophy

  • Legal Philosophy

  • Value Theory

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Awards

  • Dean's Academic Prize

    2023.03   Graduate School of Political Science, Waseda University   On Justifying Political Procedures: A Comparative Investigation into Theories of Procedural Values (Doctoral Dissertation)

    Winner： Takuto Kobayashi

  • Research Award

    2019.05   The Japanese Conference for the Study of Political Thought   Values of Political Decision-Making Procedures: Reconstruction and Assessment of Non-Instrumentalism, Instrumentalism, and Compatibilism

    Winner： Takuto Kobayashi

  • Scholarship for Young Doctoral Students

    2017.04   Waseda University  

    Winner： Takuto Kobayashi

  • Mamoru Iijima Commemorative Academic Prize

    2017.04   Graduate School of Political Science, Waseda University  

    Winner： Takuto Kobayashi

  • M.A. Valedictorian

    2017.03   Graduate School of Political Science, Waseda University  

  • Dean's Academic Prize

    2017.03   Graduate School of Political Science, Waseda University   Emotion Expressions in Public Deliberation: Construction and Reconstruction of the Fairness of Democratic Procedures (M.A. Thesis)

    Winner： Takuto Kobayashi

  • Azusa Ono Memorial Scholarship

    2016.06   Waseda University  

    Winner： Takuto Kobayashi

  • Scholarship for Graduate Students

    2015.06   The Mitsubishi UFJ Trust Scholarship Foundation  

    Winner： Takuto Kobayashi

  • Isao Okawa General Scholarship

    2015.06   Waseda University  

    Winner： Takuto Kobayashi

  • Makoto Saito Academic Award in Peace Studies

    2015.03   International Christian University   Conscience and Civil Disobedience: Martin Luther King Jr.'s Political Philosophy of Nonviolent Collective Resistance (B.A. Thesis)

    Winner： Takuto Kobayashi

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Papers

  • Social Equality and the Conditional Justifiability of Political Inequality

    Takuto Kobayashi

    Politics, Philosophy & Economics   OnlineFirst   1 - 21  2023.11  [Refereed]

    DOI

    Scopus

  • Democracy and Autonomy

    Takuto Kobayashi

    The Japanese Journal of Political Thought   23   169 - 201  2023.04  [Refereed]

  • [Doctoral Dissertation] On Justifying Political Procedures: A Comparative Investigation into Theories of Procedural Values

    Takuto Kobayashi

    Graduate School of Political Science, Waseda University    2023.03

  • Values of Political Decision-Making Procedures: Reconstruction and Assessment of Non-Instrumentalism, Instrumentalism, and Compatibilism.

    Takuto Kobayashi

    Japanese Journal of Political Thought   19   238 - 269  2019.05  [Refereed]

  • [M.A. Thesis] Emotion Expressions in Public Deliberation: Construction and Reconstruction of the Fairness of Democratic Procedures

    Takuto Kobayashi

    Graduate School of Political Science, Waseda University    2017.03

Books and Other Publications

  • Against Democracy (Japanese Translation)

    Akira Inoue, Takuto Kobayashi, Yusuke Tsuji, Gen Fukushima, Masato Fukuhara, Yusuke Fukuya( Part： Joint translator, Chapters 5 and 6)

    Keiso Shobo  2022.08

Presentations

  • Political Philosophy of One Person, One Vote

    Takuto Kobayashi  [Invited]

    Model Lecture for Waseda High School 

    Presentation date： 2024.06

  • Equal Social Relationship and Political Authority

    Takuto Kobayashi  [Invited]

    Tokyo Legal Philosophy Workshop 

    Presentation date： 2023.12

    Event date：
    2023.12
    　
    　

  • How (Not) to Object to Political Instrumentalism

    Takuto Kobayashi

    The 2nd IVR Japan International Conference, Session 6C "Role of Government" 

    Presentation date： 2023.09

    Event date：
    2023.09
    　
    　

  • Demographic Objections to Epistocracy: A Critique

    Takuto Kobayashi

    Annual Conference of the Japanese Political Science Association, Session D5 "Political Thought toward Paradigm Shifts" 

    Presentation date： 2023.09

    Event date：
    2023.09
    　
    　

  • How (Not) to Object to Political Instrumentalism

    Takuto Kobayashi

    Annual Meeting of the Japanese Conference for the Study of Political Thought 

    Presentation date： 2023.05

    Event date：
    2023.05
    　
    　

  • How (Not) to Object to Political Instrumentalism

    Takuto Kobayashi

    The Online Political Theory Forum 

    Presentation date： 2023.03

  • [Talk] Why Does Democracy Fail?

    Takuto Kobayashi  [Invited]

    Synodos Talk Lounge 

    Presentation date： 2023.02

  • Social Hierarchy in Political Representation

    Takuto Kobayashi

    The Online Political Theory Forum 

    Presentation date： 2022.09

  • Comment on Simon Caney, 'Justice, Ecological Sustainability and Future Generations.'

    Takuto Kobayashi  [Invited]

    International Symposium, Annual Meeting of the Japanese Conference for the Study of Political Thought 

    Presentation date： 2022.05

    Event date：
    2022.05
    　
    　

  • Comments on Masaya Miyamoto, "An Examination of the Responsibility for Structural Reform," Takafumi Abe, "A Society of Autonomous Persons and a Conception of Responsibility They Owe to Each Other," and Ken Oshitani, "The Demandingness of What We Owe to Each Other: Relational Obligations and the Problem of Risk."

    Takuto Kobayashi  [Invited]

    The 13th Annual Conference of Japan Association of Political Economy 

    Presentation date： 2022.03

    Event date：
    2022.03
    　
    　

  • Justice as Fairness on the Justification of Political Procedure

    Takuto Kobayashi

    International Symposium on Rawls 

    Presentation date： 2021.10

    Event date：
    2021.10
    　
    　

  • The Right to a Competent Electorate as a Procedural Right

    Takuto Kobayashi

    Annual Conference of the Japanese Political Science Association, Session E7 "Democracy and Political Theory"  (Online)  Nihon University

    Presentation date： 2021.09

    Event date：
    2021.09
    　
    　

  • Political Inequality in Justice as Fairness

    Takuto Kobayashi

    Annual Meeting of the Japanese Conference for the Study of Political Thought  (Online)  Kyushu University

    Presentation date： 2021.05

    Event date：
    2021.05
    　
    　

  • Social Equality and the Conditional Justifiability of Political Inequality

    Takuto Kobayashi

    13th Princeton University Graduate Conference in Political Theory  (Princeton University) 

    Presentation date： 2021.04

    Event date：
    2021.04
    　
    　

    　View Summary

    Many democratic theorists have non-instrumentally defended democracy as a constitutive element of social equality. However, they face an instrumentalist challenge from within: why not uphold a nondemocratic regime if it outperforms democracy in protecting or promoting social equality, e.g., by stably producing substantive political decisions that guard against social hierarchies? This article explores the best response from the social egalitarian non-instrumentalist standpoint. It argues that the instrumentalist challenge can be accommodated without abandoning the essential non-instrumentalist commitment: while a nondemocratic regime may be justified under less-than-ideal circumstances as a contingently effective means to realize more social equality, democracy can nevertheless be viewed as a necessary condition for full social equality.

  • Are Political Representatives Not Social Superiors?

    Takuto Kobayashi

    2nd Geneva Graduate Conference in Political Philosophy  (University of Geneva) 

    Presentation date： 2021.02

    Event date：
    2021.02
    　
    　

    　View Summary

    Social egalitarian democrats defend democracy as a political regime that, by equally distributing the opportunity to influence what laws and policies are made, avoids making any individual a social inferior or superior to another. However, they face a representation puzzle: since political representatives in a representative democracy are given greater political influence than non-representatives, are the representatives not social superiors to the non-representatives? This paper aims to show that no plausible solution to this puzzle has been provided. The extant accounts revolve around the idea that representatives are not social superiors to non-representatives if the former are subject to the latter’s control. I argue that such views, by focusing on the idea of popular control, fail to establish that a representative and a non-representative can enjoy equal social standing on an individual basis, which seems to be social egalitarians’ central concern. Eventually, I suggest that representatives indeed stand as social superiors to non-representatives even in a well-functioning representative democracy; the only form of democracy that does not inherently undermine social equality is direct democracy. From the social egalitarian standpoint, if representative democracy is justifiable at all, it is only non-ideally justifiable as the second-best political regime.

  • Can Social Egalitarians Reject Political Inequality?

    Takuto Kobayashi

    Annual Conference of Japan Political Science Association  (Seikei University) 

    Presentation date： 2019.10

    Event date：
    2019.10
    　
    　

  • Comment on Akira Inoue, ‘Taking Cognitive and Epistemic Conditions Seriously: A Defense of Monistic Luck Egalitarianism.’

    Takuto Kobayashi  [Invited]

    Interdisciplinary Social Sciences Research Workshop  (The University of Tokyo) 

    Presentation date： 2019.08

    Event date：
    2019.08
    　
    　

  • Anonymity and Reciprocity: On the Value of Procedural Fairness

    Takuto Kobayashi

    “Democracy and Philosophy: Why Is Democracy Desirable?” Workshop at Japan Forum for Young Philosophers  (National Olympic Memorial Youth Center) 

    Presentation date： 2017.07

  • Comment on Shin-ichi Tabata, ‘The Habermas-Rawls Dispute Revisited: Justice with or without Solidarity?’

    Takuto Kobayashi  [Invited]

    Political Thought Seminar  (Waseda University) 

    Presentation date： 2017.04

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Research Projects

  • A Study in the Permissibility of Political Representation for Social Egalitarianism

    Waseda University  Grants for Special Research Projects (Research Base Creation: 2022C-583)

    Project Year :

    2022.10
    -
    2023.03
     

  • A Critical Investigation into Freedom-Based Non-Instrumental Defenses of Democracy

    Waseda University  Grants for Special Research Projects (Research Base Creation: 2021C-411)

    Project Year :

    2021.04
    -
    2022.03
     

  • The Compatibility of Social Equality and Political Inequality: A Study of John Rawls’s View on the Plural Voting Scheme

    Waseda University  Grants for Special Research Projects (Research Base Creation: 2020C-538)

    Project Year :

    2020.04
    -
    2021.03
     

  • The Place of Emotions in Politics: An Approach from the Normative Theory of Democracy

    Japan Society for the Promotion of Science  Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research Grant-in-Aid for JSPS Fellows

    Project Year :

    2018.04
    -
    2020.03
     

Misc

  • Democracy: From the Perspective of Political Philosophy

    Takuto Kobayashi

    α SYNODOS   ( 324 )  2024.06  [Invited]

    Article, review, commentary, editorial, etc. (trade magazine, newspaper, online media)  

  • Translators' Commentary

    Takuto Kobayashi, Yusuke Tsuji, Gen Fukushima, Yusuke Fukuya

    Jason Brennan, Against Democracy (Translation, Published by Keiso Shobo)     173 - 194  2022.08

    Book review, literature introduction, etc.  

 

Syllabus

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Teaching Experience

  • Basic Seminar 07

    School of Political Science and Economics, Waseda University  

    2023.10
    -
    2024.02
     

  • Intermediate Seminar (Democracy: For and Against)

    School of Political Science and Economics, Waseda University  

    2023.10
    -
    2024.02
     

    　View Summary

    This course explores the “justification/critique of democracy” as a subfield of political philosophy. In particular, we will try to address the following problem. Political decision-making has two features. First, its stakes are often high: political decisions can significantly affect many people’s well-being and life prospects for the better or worse. Second, it often requires difficult judgments about what the pressing problems in society are and what policies should be pursued to address them. Despite these features, however, empirical research shows that many people participating in real-world democracies—that is, many voters—tend to display various “epistemic shortcomings”, such as misinformation about political matters and biases in belief formation.

    Given this background, some political philosophers are engaging in the following normative questions: Do the decisions made by such “ignorant and irrational” people tend to be good or bad? Should they be legally allowed to participate in politics? Should we have more democracy or less? To explore these central questions, we will read Jason Brennan and Hélène Landemore, Debating Democracy: Do We Need More or Less? (Oxford University Press, 2022) as the main text.

  • Approaches of Political Philosophy

    School of Commerce, Waseda University  

    2023.10
    -
    2024.02
     

    　View Summary

    This course traces the development of contemporary political philosophy. Contemporary political philosophy is, broadly speaking, a discipline whose main questions are: how should social institutions be organised and how should people act under these institutions? In order to address these questions, the meaning and importance of various values and phenomena that can be associated with social institutions - such as justice, freedom, equality, fairness, well-being, power, and ruling - are examined. The main goal of the course is to provide an overview of the contemporary development of theories in this field and to form a perspective for normative reflection on contemporary social issues.

    Specifically, the course will introduce and compare the main theoretical positions in contemporary political philosophy. The first half of the semester will provide an overview of the debate that has developed since around the 1970s between three positions: utilitarianism, liberal egalitarianism, and libertarianism. The second half of the semester will provide an overview of the more recent state of the debate, with a particular focus on topics that have been actively addressed since the 2000s.

    As well as tracing the development of contemporary political philosophy, the course also aims to teach the methods of argumentation in philosophy and the techniques of reading and writing texts.

  • Intermediate Seminar (The Ethics of Voting)

    School of Political Science and Economics, Waseda University  

    2023.04
    -
    2023.08
     

    　View Summary

    This course explores the “ethics of voting” as a subfield of political philosophy and normative ethics. The topics addressed in the ethics of voting include the following. Under democratic political regimes, each adult citizen is (at least supposed to be) secured with an equal legal right to vote. But how should citizens exercise that right? Do they have not only a right but also a duty to vote? Is it rational for citizens to vote? Is it morally desirable, or at least permissible, that they vote? Are there right and wrong ways to vote? Is each citizen’s vote different from other, tradable goods? Should votes also be tradable?

    To explore these and other normative questions related to voting, we will read Jason Brennan, The Ethics of Voting (Princeton University Press, 2011) as the main text. Each class consists of (i) a presentation by students, (ii) an in-class discussion, and (iii) a supplementary lecture by the instructor. Each student is required to make at least one presentation during the semester, summarizing the reading material assigned for the week and raising discussion topics. The other students than the presenters should prepare questions and comments and contribute them to the discussion. Each student is also required to submit a mid-term short essay and take a final exam.

  • Basic Seminar 11

    School of Political Science and Economics, Waseda University  

    2023.04
    -
    2023.08
     

  • Basic Seminar 09

    School of Political Science and Economics, Waseda University  

    2023.04
    -
    2023.08
     

  • English for Research (67) / Seminar in Global Liberal Arts III(2)

    College of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo  

    2023.04
    -
    2023.08
     

    　View Summary

    It appears to be a world-standard view that the political regime should be democratic; political power should be ultimately equalized among individual citizens by, for example, securing them equal voting rights and freedom of speech (and other political rights). Why? One reason, often proposed by political philosophers from Western societies, is that citizens should be able to enjoy an egalitarian or non-hierarchical social relationship with one another, and a democratic political regime is necessary for such a relationship.

    However, this apparently standard view is recently subjected to criticism from the Eastern, especially Confucian, perspectives. One criticism is about equal political power or rights: Why not endorse political meritocracy and give more political power to those with intellectual, practical, and moral capacities to care for the people? Another criticism is about the Western repugnance toward the idea of social hierarchy: Is it even possible for any developed and complex human society to achieve its moral goals, such as peace, prosperity, and liberty, without involving some hierarchical social relationships?

    In this course, we comparatively explore these perspectives on the ideas of democracy, equality, and hierarchy. Part I of the course introduces and discusses the Western perspectives, and Part II introduces and discusses the Eastern perspectives.

  • TA: Introduction to Political Analysis 01

    School of Political Science and Economics, Waseda University  

    2021.04
    -
    2021.07
     

  • TA: Introduction to Political Analysis 02

    School of Political Science and Economics, Waseda University  

    2020.09
    -
    2021.03
     

  • TA: Introduction to Political Science for Journalists

    Graduate School of Political Science, Waseda University  

    2019.09
    -
    2020.03
     

  • TA: History of Political Thought I, II

    School of Education, Waseda University  

    2019.04
    -
    2020.03
     

  • TA: Introduction to Philosophy I, II

    School of Education, Waseda University  

    2019.04
    -
    2020.03
     

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Sub-affiliation

  • Faculty of Commerce   School of Commerce

Internal Special Research Projects

  • 社会的平等主義における政治的代表の許容可能性に関する研究

    2022  

    　View Summary

    研究実施期間の2022年10月〜2023年3月では、以下の成果が得られた。1. 政治的代表が市民間の社会的平等の関係を毀損せず成立しうるという見解の複数の支持論を検討し、いずれも問題点を抱えていることを明らかにした。研究成果は博士学位申請論文“On Justifying Political Procedures: A Comparative Investigation into Theories of Procedural Values”に収録したが、現在はSocial Theory and Practiceなどの海外誌に投稿するための原稿をまとめている。2. 関連して、自律の理想に基づく民主政正当化論を批判する論文を国内査読誌『政治思想研究』に投稿し、2023年5月出版の23号収録論文として採択された。3. 政治的手続きの正当化における道具主義的立場を批判する研究を開始し、2023年3月のオンライン政治理論研究会にて進捗を報告した。

  • 自由概念に依拠したデモクラシーの非道具的擁護論の批判的検討

    2021  

    　View Summary

    　2021年度には以下の課題に取り組んだ。　（１）自由概念の諸構想から民主政を非道具的に擁護する議論を批判した。研究成果は博士論文の章としてまとめたが、査読誌『政治思想研究』にも投稿予定。　（２）エピストクラシー（知者の支配）の擁護論で提示される「有能な選挙民への権利」の性質を検討した。進捗は日本政治学会で報告し、現在は査読誌への投稿のため論文化している。　（３）社会的平等と政治的不平等の両立可能性を検討する論文をプリンストン大学の院生カンファレンスで報告したのち、国際査読誌に投稿。現在は一時査読結果の通知を待っている。

  • 社会的平等と政治的不平等の両立可能性——J・ロールズの複数投票制論を通じた研究

    2020  

    　View Summary

    2020年度には、三つの課題に取り組んだ。（1）社会的平等主義のもとで政治的代表が正当化されうる余地を探究した。研究成果をジュネーヴ大学の国際院生カンファレンスにて報告した（業績1）。改訂の上、国際査読誌への投稿を予定している。（2）社会的平等と政治的不平等の両立可能性を抽象理論のレベルで論証した。研究成果をプリンストン大学の国際院生カンファレンスに投稿し、採択された（2021年4月報告予定：業績2）。（3）J・ロールズの正義構想〈公正としての正義〉における複数投票制正当化論の構造を明らかにし、擁護した。研究成果を政治思想学会の研究大会に自由論題報告として応募し、採択された（2021年5月報告予定：業績3）。