Science and technology have clarified the structure of nature and have driven modern society. They provided great benefits to mankind, but at the same time generated serious problems by drastically changing nature and society. At this department, we will study science and technology with these characteristics not from the viewpoint of natural scientists and engineers but from the viewpoint of scholars of humanities and social sciences. How have science and technology acquired such great power to drive and change? What are the epistemological foundation and nature of science as knowledge? And what are characteristics of the social behavior of men of science and technology and what kinds of ethical guidelines should they possess? This department thus aims at analyzing and investigating science and technology from the viewpoint of meta-science and at fostering students' capability to do so.

The staff of this department consists of eight full-time faculty members: four specialists in the history of science and technology and in science and technology studies and four specialists in the philosophy of science and technology and ethics of science and technology. They specialize in fields such as the history of mathematics, the history of physics, the history of biology, the history of technology, the philosophy of science, the philosophy of technology, ancient philosophy, the philosophy of mind, and engineering ethics. This department is also assisted by about ten part-time faculty members who provide undergraduate and graduate lectures and seminars. Since the foundation of this department as an undergraduate program in 1951, this department has turned out graduates with BA.; and since its foundation as a graduate program, it has turned out graduates with master's and doctoral degrees. This department cooperates in publishing Archive for Philosophy and the History of Science, and its graduate students publish History and Philosophy of Science.