Jun Otsuka
junotk.bsky.social
Jun Otsuka
@junotk.bsky.social
Philosopher of Science. The author of Thinking About Statistics (Routledge) and the Role of Mathematics in Evolutionary Theory (CUP).
https://junotk.net/
Reposted by Jun Otsuka
Very nice by Jun Otsuka @junotk.bsky.social and Hayato Saigo: link.springer.com/article/10.1...
about causal interventions/do calculus via string diagram surgery
September 17, 2025 at 2:04 PM
"If you read only one book on the philosophy of statistics, make it this one. Otsuka’s compact yet comprehensive treatment (under 190 pages) provides a uniquely integrated view of the major statistical frameworks that shape modern data science and AI."
crowintelligence.org/2025/03/19/s...
Statistical Thinking as Philosophy: Essential Readings – Part I. - Crow Intelligence
"Philosophy of science without history of science is empty; history of science without philosophy of science is blind." — Imre Lakatos Statistics isn't just a collection of mathematical techniques—it'...
crowintelligence.org
August 7, 2025 at 11:37 AM
Our process causation paper is published in Synthese! We propose that process causation (a la Salmon, Dowe, MDC new mechanists) can be modeled using a category-theoretic framework.
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
July 31, 2025 at 4:57 AM
Reposted by Jun Otsuka
This is a very good book, and you can read it for free!
All titles of Cambridge Elements in the Philosophy of Biology, including mine The Role of Mathematics in Evolutionary Theory, are downloadable for free till the 25th.
www.cambridge.org/core/element...
The Role of Mathematics in Evolutionary Theory
Cambridge Core - Philosophy of Science - The Role of Mathematics in Evolutionary Theory
www.cambridge.org
July 25, 2025 at 4:43 PM
All titles of Cambridge Elements in the Philosophy of Biology, including mine The Role of Mathematics in Evolutionary Theory, are downloadable for free till the 25th.
www.cambridge.org/core/element...
The Role of Mathematics in Evolutionary Theory
Cambridge Core - Philosophy of Science - The Role of Mathematics in Evolutionary Theory
www.cambridge.org
July 25, 2025 at 12:43 AM
Reposted by Jun Otsuka
In Sendai where our fantastic host @junotk.bsky.social opens up the meeting of the Japanese Phil of Science Association (ita founding members include physicist Yukawa, I am told) and to these days includes lots of logicians and scientists alike. Excellent opening talk by @terumiyake.bsky.social
June 21, 2025 at 1:08 AM
Reposted by Jun Otsuka
Packed day at the Japanese Phil Scie Association with brilliant talks by @junotk.bsky.social on rethinking the ontology associated with statistical models and Hanti Lin on realism and machine learning. Huge thanks to @junotk.bsky.social for stellar organisation and unrivalled hospitality. 💫
June 22, 2025 at 2:35 AM
It was such a great honor to host Prof. Michela Massimi’s @michelamassimi.bsky.social special lecture at the Japanese Philosophy of Science Association. Her talk was truly inspiring for thinking about a more human-centered form of science—something much needed today.
June 22, 2025 at 6:59 AM
Reposted by Jun Otsuka
A real joy to visit Taipei and to meet in person the incredible community of philosophers of science in South East Asia as well as hanging around with my old friend @sabinaleonelli.bsky.social and new colleagues too. Huge thanks to Karen Yan our wonderful host here 💫
Impressive attendance at APPSA-LMPST conference in Taipei, where my fellow keynote @michelamassimi.bsky.social is presenting on local knowledge in coastal communities, consistent w my talk on prospects of empirical methods in an unequal, fragmented & AI-driven world appsa2025taiwan.mystrikingly.com
June 18, 2025 at 7:18 AM
Reposted by Jun Otsuka
New article! Alan Love @mcps-philsci.bsky.social & I reflect on methodological & conceptual legacies of M. Abercrombie: quantitative measurement of cell behavior & concept of contact inhibition of locomotion. Published in @devbiol.bsky.social eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com?url=https%3A...
June 13, 2025 at 10:27 AM
New paper out in Royal Society Open Science!
In this paper, we propose a novel Bayesian framework to model scientific practice as a whole, based on Taniguchi's theory of Collective Predictive Coding. (1/n)
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
Collective predictive coding as model of science: formalizing scientific activities towards generative science | Royal Society Open Science
This article proposes a new conceptual framework called collective predictive coding as a model of science (CPC-MS) to formalize and understand scientific activities. Building on the idea of CPC originally developed to explain symbol emergence, CPC-MS ...
royalsocietypublishing.org
June 6, 2025 at 12:14 PM
New preprint out! We use string diagrams to quantitatively model process causality (à la Salmon) and tackle issues like the Principle of Common Cause, explanatory irrelevance, and more—turns out process causation might be cooler than you thought.
philsci-archive.pitt.edu/25367/
Modeling Causal Processes - PhilSci-Archive
philsci-archive.pitt.edu
May 20, 2025 at 1:40 AM
Reposted by Jun Otsuka
Officially published in EJPS! Alan Love @mcps-philsci.bsky.social and I discuss two forms of generalization: evolutionarily conserved mechanisms involving specific types of entities and abstract principles that are instantiated by heterogeneous entities #philsci link.springer.com/article/10.1...
April 25, 2025 at 11:54 AM
Précis of Thinking About Statistics
rdcu.be/edlaK

URL to the article: link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Précis of Thinking About Statistics
rdcu.be
March 13, 2025 at 4:05 AM
My book, Thinking About Statistics, got featured in Asian Journal of Philosophy! The book symposium hosts reviews by Elliott Sober, Jeanne Peijnenburg & David Atkinson, Hanti Lin, and Tung-Ying Wu, along with my reply.
link.springer.com/collections/...
Book Symposium: Thinking about Statistics (Jun Otsuka)
Jun Otsuka’s book Thinking about Statistics (Routledge, 2023 ) bridges the gap between statistics and philosophy. It does this by delineating the conceptual ...
link.springer.com
March 6, 2025 at 2:27 AM
Really enjoyed attending the Joint Mathematics Meetings special session on Categorical Generalizations of Conditionalization. We presented "a sheaf-theoretic reconstruction of statistical models", a joint work with Tatsuya Yoshii and Hayato Saigo.
January 12, 2025 at 2:24 PM
Reposted by Jun Otsuka
I enjoy the clarity of the work.

It establishes the derivation of the statistical tools in a way that made the mathematics much clearer to me.

I began to feel like I was reading mathematical formulae like english sentences - in the way that mathematics is a language.
December 30, 2024 at 7:04 PM
Reposted by Jun Otsuka
@junotk.bsky.social ‘s Thinking About Statistics is an absolute gem.
December 29, 2024 at 6:50 PM
Reposted by Jun Otsuka
PSA Around the World 2025 🌍 Focus: Eastern & Central Europe. Call for Abstracts is now open!

🗓️ Deadline: March 31, 2025
💻 Fully online, Nov 6, 14, 22
$50 fee (waivers available).

More info: www.philsci.org/psa_...
📄 Submit abstracts: psaatw25.sciencescon...
December 19, 2024 at 8:22 PM
I’ll be speaking at the CIVICA DS Seminar on Oct 30! The registration link (below) lists an outdated title & abstract. The correct one is ‘Changing Ideals of Science in the Age of AI’, where I’ll discuss AI’s impact on what science should strive to be.
socialdatascience.network/fall2024/ses...
CIVICA Data Science Seminar Series
Session 2 Fall 2024: What does it mean to understand AI?
socialdatascience.network
October 27, 2024 at 1:52 PM
Forgot to share it here: a new paper coauthored with my student, where we solved the grue paradox using category-theoretic statistical modeling.
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
A Categorical Solution to the Grue Paradox | The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science: Vol 0, No ja
www.journals.uchicago.edu
July 11, 2024 at 2:17 PM
I created a poster version synopsis of my book, 'Thinking About Statistics.' To be presented at JFFoS in Strasbourg next week.
May 15, 2024 at 1:24 AM
Check out the synopsis of my book, 'Thinking About Statistics'! It's translated from the Japanese version using machine translation, so it may have some translation quirks, but should convey (some of) the main idea(s) of the book.

philsci-archive.pitt.edu/22945/
January 10, 2024 at 1:00 AM