I have thus far written UTCP Juventus twice. Since I do not want to repeat myself, please look over UTCP Juventus in 2008 and 2009 and my own website, as to my profile and research interests. Here I shall write about what I am doing now.

I am working on how I can connect my philosophical studies of neuroscience at UTCP with the philosophy of the social sciences that I have thus far studied. Neuroeconomics and social neuroscience, which employ a neuroscientific method to study human social behavior and institutions, have some currency today. But the relation between neuroscience and the existing social science has not yet been fully investigated. If neuroscience alone can explain social phenomena, then social science would be redundant. This is a mere reductionism, which has been harshly criticized in the past. True, reductionism needs to be avoided. But at the same time, it would be inappropriate to exclude neuroscience from explanations of social phenomena, given that human beings are animals and have brains. Then how is neuroscience related to the existing social science? As to this problem, I shall give a talk "How is social science possible after neuroscience" at Society for Social Studies of Science (4S) held in this August.

By the way, many panels will be simultaneously held at 4S. Among them, there is a panel on Steve Fuller, "Thomas Kuhn, Knowledge Management, and The Intellectual: A Fuller STS?" I was invited to speak at this panel. I have known Fuller and Francis Remedios, one of the speakers for many years. I look forward to seeing them at 4S. Stephen Turner whom I met at the philosophy of social science roundtable in Atlanta will also come to Japan. I hope that I can discuss many things with them.

As you can imagine from the above, I am in active preparation and study hard.

(Written by Kei Yoshida)