多義的なオープン概念を整合的に理解する

抄録

　In recent years, the idea of "openness" has become widely used across many fields, including science policy, research practices, knowledge sharing, and corporate strategies. This has led to various initiatives collectively referred to as "Open X," such as Open Access, Open Science, Open Data, Open Government, and Open Innovation. Despite its widespread use, the concept of openness remains unclear, with significant differences in meaning and use across different contexts. This confusion leads to practical issues such as "openwashing," where superficial or misleading claims of openness hide practices that remain closed.

　This paper aims to clarify and engineer the concept of openness from a philosophical viewpoint. To do this, we use Aristotle’s idea of core-dependent homonymy (CDH), in which multiple meanings of a term depend on one central meaning. Using this approach, we argue that different "Open X" initiatives can be understood coherently because they all depend on a central ideal we call "anti-enclosure," meaning resisting excessive privatization and restricted control over resources and knowledge.

　We also pinpoint the key features of openness, including freedom, no cost, transparency, and collaboration. We introduce the ideas of "partial openness" and "gradational openness" to explain the phenomenon that there appear to be differences in the meaning and degree of openness in various initiatives. This framework is key to critically evaluating openwashing by distinguishing genuinely open practices from those that are merely labelled as open.

　Overall, this paper shows that despite the practical diversity, openness maintains a clear conceptual structure through its shared commitment to reducing enclosure. The CDH-based framework presented here not only clarifies theoretical uncertainties but also provides practical tools for assessing and improving openness across various disciplines and institutions.