Three Stages, Three Modes, and Beyond

I review the developement of particle physics from the viewpoint of theoretical methodology. Particle physics has gone through certain characteristic periods in the course of discoveries and accumulation of knowledge, both factual and theoretical. To anlyze this situation, I draw on the theses of three stages and three modes, and illustrate the points with historical examples, up to the present Standard Model and the speculative theories of unification. As an exercise in this analysis, I propose a possible regularity in the quark masses.