The Historical Relationship between Philosophy of Science and Analytic Philosophy in Japan

Abstract

    Today philosophy of science and analytic philosophy are regarded as different areas or methods of philosophy. But although Philosophy of Science Society, Japan bears name of ʻPhilosophy of Scienceʼ, many analytic philosophers belong to it. In this paper, from the historical point of view I consider the reason why the journal of this society accepts papers of analytic philosophy and annual meeting of this society accepts talks of analytic philosophy. First, I explain how analytic philosophy is different from philosophy of science. Next, I explore the historical situation in which analytic philosophy became intertwined with philosophy of science. As result of these considerations, an answer to the above question, ʻWhy does this society accept the study of analytic philosophy?ʼ is given.