This paper examines the role of inferentialism in mathematics education research, a complex, transdisciplinary field. We overview constructivism in mathematics education and the emergence of inferentialism, clarifying our perspective of inferentialism in educational research. The focus is on how inferentialism allows researchers to analyze observable learner expressions, overcoming the limitations of constructivism in empirical educational research. We also discussed the implications of educational research for philosophical issues.

Statistics classes in school education in Japan often fail to narrow down multiple conflicting conclusions into one more persuasive conclusion. This paper analyzes and characterizes a relativistic statistics class from the perspective of inferentialism, thereby examining approaches to avoid relativism. As a result, I pointed out the inclusion of anomalies and the failure to pursue warrants as possible factors in the formation of relativistic norms and discussed strategies to avoid them. Based on the discussion, several challenges in adopting inferentialism as a normative analytical framework for educational phenomena are identified.

In recent years, in Japan, with moral education being designated as a ‘special subject,’ there has been a shift from inculcation-based teaching to one that encourages moral reflection and discussions. Nevertheless, various issues have been identified concerning the methods of discussion and normative education within moral education classes. This paper addresses these problems by reevaluating the foundations of moral education theory from an inferentialist perspective. Given that Robert Brandom’s inferentialism, upon which this paper relies, has certain limitations when applied to moral education, we incorporate John McDowell’s theory of moral sensibility with some modifications, sketching an adapted inferentialism more suitable for moral education.

This paper summarizes and comments on the papers by Uegatani, Otani, and Shirakawa included in the special section ‘Inferentialism as a Philosophical Foundation of Education Sciences,’ with a particular focus on the notion of norms used by each author. It explores the possibilities and limitations of inferentialism as a philosophical foundation for education sciences, shedding light on the varied usages of norms within inferentialism and education sciences.

We aim to describe the history of Quantum Brain Dynamics (QBD), the hypothesis of memory and consciousness in a brain, and argue about recent perspectives in this article. First we introduce several features in memory in a brain distinguished from computer memory. Next we introduce the holographic brain theory proposed by Pribram which describes the mechanism of memory. Furthermore we show quantum field theoretical approach of memory proposed by Umezawa et al.. We consider concrete degrees of freedom in QBD, namely water electric dipole fields and photon fields, and also discuss the feasibility of spontaneous breakdown of rotational symmetry of electric dipoles, where dipoles are aligned in the same direction, in order to describe memory. Next we introduce dissipative quantum model regarding a brain as an open system, and attempt the integration of QBD and holographic theory. Moreover we consider the consciousness emerging as Bose-Einstein condensate, and estimate its critical temperature. Furthermore we mention our opinions against criticisms with respect to decoherence phenomena. Finally we refer to perspectives on QBD towards solving hard problems in conventional neuroscience.

This paper examines the collaboration of mathematicians and humanists, like philosophers and researchers of French literature, in Japan in discussing Blaise Pascal's mathematical thought from approximately 1940. The mathematicians who realized the difference between mathematics and historical studies of mathematics, and their collaboration with humanists resulted in the fruitful accumulation of their works. As a result, Kokiti Hara, a Japanese scholar of French literature, successfully published internationally influential papers on Pascal's mathematics from 1961 on, before the establishment of the research field of the history of mathematics in Japan in approximately 1970. This process provides an example of how we can integrate the arts and sciences.

What is a quantum object? According to individualism, quantum objects are treated as individual objects. Therefore, we can count quantum objects because they are distinct individuals. However, if the individuality of a quantum object is given by its substratum, or primitively, the object would possess a definite position, which contradicts the orthodox interpretation of quantum mechanics. Given this situation, I propose that quantum objects should be regarded as “indefinite multi-located individuals.” A quantum object can exist wholly at multiple locations simultaneously but is probabilistically located with respect to each of those locations. This view is based on the following metaphysical framework: the ontology of thisness bundle theory for quantum objects, and the ideology of property (co-)instantiation with probability.

This paper examines new biological naturalist theories of consciousness, focusing on Ginsburg and Jablonka, and Feinberg and Mallat as their representatives. In doing so, we compare and analyze the two theories from three perspectives: the signature, the ontology, and the function of consciousness. We point out several significant theoretical differences between them, especially that Ginsburg and Jablonka propose a novel naturalistic teleological understanding of the ontological status of consciousness, whereas Feinberg and Mallat's theory conforms with so-called type-B physicalism.