This episode is the first Noriko’s Philosophy Playground of 2026 and explores The Tower of Babel painted by Pieter Bruegel the Elder.
Noriko reflects on seeing the large version of The Tower of Babel in Vienna at the Kunsthistorisches Museum. Inspired by the painting, she discusses human ambition, limits, and the role of language.
The biblical story tells of people who once shared a single language and tried to build a tower reaching the heavens. Their excessive ambition led to confusion of language, loss of cooperation, and the collapse of the project.
Bruegel’s painting shows countless workers focused only on their own tasks, without seeing the whole structure. Parts of the tower are already collapsing, symbolising miscommunication and lack of coordination.
Noriko connects this to modern life and language learning, asking three philosophical questions:
How important is it to see the big picture?
How much ambition is healthy for humans?
What does it really mean for language to “connect” people?
She concludes that true communication is not just grammar or vocabulary, but the attitude of trying to understand others. Language learning, she suggests, is ultimately about understanding people and the world through words.
フィロソフィー（philosophy）
プレイグラウンド（playground）
プロジェクト（project）
コミュニケーション（communication）
インターネット（internet）
バージョン（version）
ディーテール（detail）
ビジョン（vision）
アプローチ（approach）
コーディネーション（coordination）
野心（やしん） – ambition
限界（げんかい） – limit
言語（げんご） – language
言葉（ことば） – words
混乱（こんらん） – confusion
協力（きょうりょく） – cooperation
理解（りかい） – understanding
全体像（ぜんたいぞう） – big picture
誤解（ごかい） – misunderstanding
傲慢（ごうまん） – arrogance
本質（ほんしつ） – essence
理想化（りそうか） – idealization
労働者（ろうどうしゃ） – workers
崩れる（くずれる） – to collapse
態度・姿勢（たいど・しせい） – attitude / mindset