Subject | Humanities & Social Sciences

  • Learning

Introduction to the Methodologies of Knowledge

  • Epistemology
  • Integrity and Intimacy
  • Transversal Wisdom
  • Philosophy of Science
  • Integral Theory

This course is a 10-session program designed for first- and second-year undergraduate students at the general education level. It systematically explores how humanity has understood the world and constructed knowledge. In the first half, the course revisits the question “What does it mean to know?” through the historical background of Western and Eastern epistemology, introducing two orientations for understanding the world: Thomas P. Kasulis’s Integrity and Intimacy. In the middle section, the instructor, Ryosuke Ohniwa, explains four distinct methodologies derived from these orientations—namely, the scientific method, the humanistic method, the kata-based method, and the attunement-based method—with a focus on how each treats objects and relationships. In the final section, the course examines the reliability and validity of these methodologies from the perspectives of philosophy of science and Ken Wilber’s integral theory. Ultimately, the course aims to cultivate the ability to flexibly navigate multiple frameworks of knowledge (Transversal Wisdom) in the age of AI.

  • Target
    Bachelor
  • Language
    English
  • Start month
    Anytime
  • Length
    No setting
  • Delivery method
    Ondemand
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©Bachelor’s Program in Global Issues (BPGI).  Last Update 2026-08-31
  • Content
    学習内容
  • Staff
    スタッフ
  • Competency
    コンピテンシー
  • Information
    その他の情報
  • Related Contents
    関連コンテンツ

Content／学習内容

Course Overview: This course is a 10-session program designed for first- and second-year undergraduate students at the general education level. It systematically explores how humanity has understood the world and constructed knowledge. In the first half, the course revisits the question “What does it mean to know?” through the historical background of Western and Eastern epistemology, introducing two orientations for understanding the world: Thomas P. Kasulis’s Integrity and Intimacy. In the middle section, the instructor, Ryosuke Ohniwa, explains four distinct methodologies derived from these orientations—namely, the scientific method, the humanistic method, the kata-based method, and the attunement-based method—with a focus on how each treats objects and relationships. In the final section, the course examines the reliability and validity of these methodologies from the perspectives of philosophy of science and Ken Wilber’s integral theory. Ultimately, the course aims to cultivate the ability to flexibly navigate multiple frameworks of knowledge (Transversal Wisdom) in the age of AI.

Course Information

Target Students: Students aiming to establish foundational knowledge at the first- to second-year undergraduate level

Course Level: Level 100 (Introductory Course), equivalent to JEQF Level 6 (reference)

Learning Category: Humanities / Philosophy

Language of Instruction: Japanese

Structure: Each session consists of (20-minute lecture video + 10-minute quiz) × 3 units × 10 sessions = 900 minutes (15 hours)

Assessment Method:
①All lecture videos are viewed.
②All multiple-choice questions (assigned per 20-minute lecture) are answered correctly.

Learning Outcomes

  • Understanding the historical development of epistemology: Compare Western epistemology (from Ancient Greece to modernity) with Eastern epistemology (India, China, Japan) to understand how the foundations of knowledge have evolved.
  • Understanding two orientations and four methodologies: Grasp the distinction between Integrity (external relations) and Intimacy (internal relations), and acquire the basic structure of the four methodologies derived from them: scientific, humanistic, kata-based, and attunement-based methods.
  • Evaluating reliability and validity of methodologies: Assess methodological reliability through three conditions—instruction/framework, experience/data, and verification/falsification—and understand validity based on perspectives such as truth, goodness, and beauty and the four-quadrant model.
  • Acquisition of Transversal Wisdom and practical application: Develop the ability to flexibly navigate among the four methodologies depending on context, without being confined to a single analytical framework, especially in complex modern society and the AI era.

Session 1: Western Epistemology: Where Does Certain Knowledge Come From? — The Pursuit of “Knowledge” in Western Philosophy

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Part.1: The Origins of Knowledge — From Ancient Greece to Medieval Philosophy

  • The relativism of the Sophists, and in opposition to it, Socrates and Plato’s search for universal truth through the Theory of Forms.
  • Aristotle’s position of abstracting universals from experience.
  • The structure of medieval philosophy, which sought harmony between reason and faith and grounded the ultimate basis of knowledge in God.
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Part.2: The Birth of Modern Epistemology — The Scientific Revolution, Rationalism, and Empiricism

  • The epistemological turn, triggered by the Scientific Revolution, from the world itself to the knowing subject.
  • Descartes’ methodological doubt and rationalism, which seeks certainty in reason.
  • The thoroughgoing empiricism of Bacon, Locke, and Hume, and its skeptical consequences regarding causality and the self.
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Part.3: The Structure of Knowledge and Consciousness — From Kant to Husserl

  • The impasse between rationalism and empiricism, and the shift to the question: “How is knowledge possible?”
  • Kant’s Copernican Revolution, clarifying the cognitive structure of sensibility and understanding.
  • Edmund Husserl’s phenomenology and the description of meaning constitution through epoché.

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Session 2: Eastern Epistemology: How Should We Live Through Knowing? — Knowledge as Practice and Transformation in Eastern Thought

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Part.1: India — Knowing as Transformation of Being

  • A worldview grounded in samsara (cycle of rebirth) and dukkha (suffering), seeking the source of truth in inner reality (Ātman and Brahman).
  • Neti neti (“not this, not that”) as a method of negative cognition, combined with intuition and reasoning.
  • The shift in Buddhism toward non-self (anātman) and dependent origination (pratītyasamutpāda), and the Yogācāra view that the world is a manifestation of consciousness.
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Part.2: China — Knowing as Right Living

  • The Confucian concept of gewu zhizhi (investigating things to extend knowledge), locating truth in heavenly principle (li) or the Dao, and embedding knowledge in social and ethical practice.
  • Daoist thought emphasizing the limits of language and advocating wu wei (non-action / naturalness), even to the extent of abandoning knowledge.
  • Zen Buddhism’s rejection of textual authority and emphasis on sudden enlightenment, along with Wang Yangming’s doctrine of the unity of knowledge and action.
▶

Part.3: Japan — Knowing as Sensing and Acting

  • The worldview of ancient Shinto, in which humans and nature are not separated, and the idea of attaining Buddhahood in this very body.
  • The contrast between Zen (where action itself is enlightenment) and Pure Land Buddhism (which emphasizes reliance on other-power).
  • The embodiment of tacit knowledge through the repetition of kata in traditional arts, and Nishida Kitarō’s concept of pure experience.

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Session 3: Two Perspectives for Grasping the World and Four Methodologies — Analytical Knowledge and Resonant Knowledge

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Part.1: Differences in Conceptions of the Body between East and West

  • The mutually exclusive nature of cultural perspectives, illustrated by the Rubin vase analogy.
  • Integrity: a Western-oriented view in which objects are independent and relations are externally connected.
  • Intimacy: an Eastern-oriented view in which objects are interdependent and relations are internal.
▶

Part.2: Four Methodologies for Utilizing These Conceptions

  • Four types of knowledge emerging from combinations of object/relation and concrete/abstract.
  • The scientific method (abstracting objects, concretizing relations) and the humanistic method (concretizing objects, abstracting relations).
  • An overview of the kata-based method and the attunement-based method, and a comparison of how they function in the same context of medical treatment.
▶

Part.3: Cognitive Capacities and Reliability Underlying Methodologies

  • Intellect: the cognitive capacity for analytic understanding through the orientation of integrity (the ability to understand).
  • Wisdom: the cognitive capacity for holistic comprehension through the orientation of intimacy (the ability to grasp).
  • The three conditions supporting methodological reliability: instruction/framework, experience/data, and verification/falsification.

▲ Back to Table of Contents

Session 4: The Scientific Method — How Does Science Grasp the “Whole”? Systems, Complexity, and the Evolution of Science

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Part.1: Review of the Scientific Method

  • The mode of knowledge production through abstraction (symbolization) of objects and concretization (structuring) of relations.
  • The operational formula in which scientific knowledge is externalized and functions as an inferential structure independent of the user.
  • The strengths of causal chain models (e.g., in physics and medical treatment), alongside their limitation in overlooking totality.
▶

Part.2: Gestalt, System, and Holon

  • Gestalt theory: the whole is more than the sum of its parts, and perception is inherently structured.
  • Systems as wholes consisting of interacting elements, with boundaries, inputs/outputs, emergence, and feedback.
  • Holon: nested hierarchical structures that are simultaneously wholes and parts.
▶

Part.3: Applications as System and Holon

  • The limits of genetic reductionism and the expansion of life sciences toward a network-based view of life.
  • The shift from organ-based models to whole-body systems in medicine, and the complexity of pandemics and climate change involving entire social systems.
  • Organizational theory involving holonic hierarchies (individuals, teams, firms), and feedback structures in phenomena such as social media outrage.

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Session 5: The Humanistic Method — How Is Meaning Constructed? Structuralism, Post-Structuralism, and the Power of Context

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Part.1: Theoretical Structure of the Humanistic Method

  • The mechanism by which meaning and value emerge through the combination of concrete objects and abstracted contexts.
  • A mode of knowledge transmission based not on experiments or equations, but on shared interpretive frameworks through reading, critique, and reinterpretation.
  • The principle of context-dependent meaning, whereby the same statement changes meaning depending on context.
▶

Part.2: Structuralism and Post-Structuralism

  • Structuralism (Saussure, Lévi-Strauss): meaning as an effect of relational systems (structures).
  • Post-structuralist turns: Barthes’ “death of the author,” Derrida’s deconstruction/différance, questioning the stability of structure.
  • Foucault’s analysis of the linkage between knowledge and power, and the view that subjects are constructed within discourse.
▶

Part.3: Context-Dependent Meaning and Contemporary Applications

  • Visualization of context in research design, such as the historical transformation of disease concepts and the determination of what counts as data.
  • Applications to gender and society, including the historical construction of masculinity and femininity, and media framing as a constitutive force of reality.
  • The power and ethical implications of context design in business, such as UX design and branding, which redefine the meaning of actions.

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Session 6: The Kata-Based Method — A World of Knowledge Grasped Through the Body: Kata and Interpenetration in Martial Arts, Ritual, and Kampo Medicine

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Part.1: What Is the Kata-Based Method?

  • A worldview of interpenetration as an internal relation, in which entities are constituted through mutual overlap.
  • An understanding of kata not as a mere prescribed sequence of movements, but as a package embodying wisdom, whose essence is lost when it is analytically decomposed.
  • A process of grasping a whole in a non-analytic, embodied manner, distinct from analytic and linguistic understanding.
▶

Part.2: Kata in Martial Arts, Ritual, and Kampo Medicine

  • In martial arts, kata presupposes specific extreme situations and forms a body that, through repetition, gives rise to responses exceeding prior anticipation.
  • In ritual, the repeated performance of form creates a structure in which individual action and communal order mutually permeate one another.
  • In Kampo medicine, the diagnostic shō is grasped not as the sum of symptoms but as the overall pattern of the body, to which one responds through herbal prescriptions.
▶

Part.3: The Scope of the Kata-Based Method

  • A mode of transmission in which knowledge is not explained through language, but is shared through resonance via imitation and repetition, gradually sedimenting in the body.
  • An operational formula in which, rather than through inference, internalized wisdom appears in concrete situations as manifestation or spontaneous emergence.
  • Applications of kata in contemporary business and thought, such as design thinking, athletic form, and presentation structure.

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Session 7: The Attunement-Based Method — Regulating Invisible “Relations”: A Philosophy of Attunement Through Qi, Love, and Atmosphere

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Part.1: The Theoretical Structure of the Attunement-Based Method

  • A mode of cognition that grasps phenomena as the resonance of relations by mediating (abstracting) the object and wave-forming (concretizing) the relation.
  • An approach of attunement (tuning / resonance) that does not directly manipulate objects, but instead regulates the state of relations.
  • An intimacy-oriented form of knowledge shared not through linguistic agreement, but through bodily experience and affective responsiveness, that is, through resonance.
▶

Part.2: What Is a Relational Entity?

  • The concept of a relational entity, something invisible and immeasurable yet operative in establishing relations.
  • Qi in Chinese thought, understood as a fundamental existence that gives rise to all things and is practiced through yin-yang theory and qigong.
  • Love and trust as forces that emerge in relations and, as relations change, transform the self itself.
▶

Part.3: Transmission and Application of the Attunement-Based Method

  • A process in which a theory of attunement is internalized by the practitioner, and through relational entities the mode of appearance of the object is transformed as manifestation.
  • Points of contact with modern science, such as synchronization phenomena in physics and the role of mirror neurons in neuroscience.
  • Applications in psychotherapeutic rapport, integrative medicine, organizational atmosphere, and the human capacity to regulate relationships in the age of AI.

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Session 8: The Reliability of Methodologies — Why Can Science Be Trusted? The Legitimacy of Knowledge and the History of Philosophy of Science

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Part.1: Reliability Through Logical Rigor

  • Three conditions for evaluating how reliable a method of producing knowledge is: instruction/framework, experience/data, and verification/falsification.
  • John Stuart Mill’s five methods as a systematization of inductive reasoning, and Hume’s formulation of the problem of induction.
  • Popper’s criterion of falsifiability as a condition for scientific theory, and his model of scientific progress through severe testing and revision.
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Part.2: The Sociality and Holism of Science

  • Thomas Kuhn’s concept of the paradigm and his social model of scientific development, from normal science through anomaly to scientific revolution.
  • The theory-ladenness of observation, and the structure of validation through the consensus of the scientific community.
  • Quine’s holism, according to which knowledge confronts experience not as isolated propositions but as an interconnected system, a web of belief.
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Part.3: The Limits and Practice of Methodology

  • Feyerabend’s methodological anarchism and his claim that scientific progress arises through the competition of diverse methods.
  • Latour’s Actor-Network Theory, according to which scientific facts are the products of networks of humans, instruments, and institutions.
  • The historical expansion of scientific reliability from logic to society and then to material networks, and the application of the three conditions to the four methodologies.

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Session 9: The Validity of Methodologies — Integrating Truth, Goodness, and Beauty: Integral Theory for Using Multiple Perspectives

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Part.1: What Is the Validity of Methodology?

  • The question of why art, religion, and ethics remain important if science is reliable, and the resulting structure of tension among methodologies.
  • Methodological validity asks not which methodology is the one and only correct one, but which perspective is valid for what.
  • The organization of the world into three domains since Plato: truth (objectivity), goodness (society/ethics), and beauty (subjective experience).
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Part.2: Integral Theory — Integrating Knowledge Through the Four Quadrants

  • The aim of Ken Wilber’s integral theory, and the concept of the holon as something that is simultaneously a whole and a part.
  • The four quadrants of the AQAL model—formed by combining the two axes of interior/exterior and individual/collective: I, It, We, Its.
  • The limits of reductionism that seeks to explain the world from only one quadrant, and the critique of Flatland, where meaning and value are lost.
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Part.3: Developmental Stages and Integral Thinking

  • The stage-like development of human understanding of the world, from magical and mythic stages to the rational stage emphasizing objectivity.
  • The transition from pluralistic stages, which can easily lapse into cultural relativism, to an integral stage that acknowledges the truth of multiple perspectives.
  • The Pre/Post Fallacy—the confusion of the pre-rational and the trans-rational—and the application of integral thinking, which views all four quadrants simultaneously, to complex contemporary issues such as global environmental problems.

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Session 10: “Transversal Wisdom” Required in the Age of AI — Moving Beyond Divisions and Freely Traversing Multiple Forms of Knowledge

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Part.1: Beyond the Yoke of Intimacy and Integrity

  • Differences in epistemic orientation as the cause of long-standing divisions in modern thought, such as those between science and the spiritual, or West and East.
  • The constraint of Integrity, which grasps objects as independent (e.g., Kantian philosophy), and the constraint of Intimacy, which grasps things through relationality (along with the insufficient systematization of Eastern thought).
  • The need for Transversal Wisdom, capable of moving freely among the four methodologies, in order to overcome the limits of the decompositional and analytical model of modern science.
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Part.2: Beyond Integral Theory

  • An examination of the significance of Ken Wilber’s integral theory, along with its theoretical limits, such as the lack of a methodology for the eye of the soul and its bias toward integrity-oriented structures.
  • The claim that all four methodologies—scientific, humanistic, kata-based, and attunement-based—can approach each domain of the four quadrants.
  • A concrete example showing how a more comprehensive therapeutic approach becomes possible by moving among the four methodologies with respect to a single object, namely illness.
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Part.3: Transversal Wisdom in the Age of AI

  • The characteristics of AI as highly capable of data processing, analysis, and prediction, with a strong affinity for integrity-oriented knowledge.
  • AI can also generate expressions resembling intimacy-oriented knowledge, but generating such expressions is not the same as directly grasping the world of intimacy.
  • The importance of Transversal Wisdom: moving among the four methodologies and appropriately coordinating the different capacities of humans and AI in collaborative practice.

▲ Back to Table of Contents

Staff／スタッフ

    • Coordinator
    • Teacher
    OHNIWA Ryosuke
    University of Tsukuba Department of Educational Promotion
    Professor

Competency／コンピテンシー

  • Literacy
  • Logical thinking ability
  • Problem solving skill
  • Situation grasping ability

Specialized Competencies

  • Foundational understanding of philosophy and thought
  • Ability to utilize diverse frameworks of knowledge
  • Systematic understanding of epistemological backgrounds
  • Judgment based on multiple perspectives

Information／その他の情報

Evaluation Method

Achievement is recognized when the following conditions are met:
①All lecture videos are viewed
②All multiple-choice questions (assigned per 20-minute lecture) are answered correctly

References

『総合智への方法論（大庭良介著・丸善出版・2025年）』🔗
Reconsidering “Kata (型)” – from science to comprehensive/integrated study – (大庭良介著 Kyoto University Press, Aug, 2021)🔗

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