Scientific Methodology

What makes a body of knowledge a science, and what makes its methods more than a set of techniques? Tosaka Jun approaches these questions through the work of research itself: the encounter between investigators and their objects, the formation of concepts, and the social conditions under which knowledge takes shape.

Scientific Methodology moves from the analysis of method to the classification of disciplines, then examines Rickert’s distinction between natural and historical sciences. A substantial discussion of relativity explores coordinates, measurement, and the scientific world. The final chapters distinguish mathematical demonstration from the interpretive insight required to understand human history.

A major Japanese philosopher of the early twentieth century, Tosaka brings European philosophy into a sustained argument about practice, criticism, and intellectual freedom. His reasoning remains deliberately patient and cumulative, challenging the separation of scholarship from the life that produces it. This complete translation includes both prefaces, the author’s extensive notes, and brief textual notes explaining damaged references and historical scientific formulations.