University
of
Genoa
Department of Philosophy - Epistemology Section
Evandro Agazzi
| Department
of
Philosophy,
University
of Genova, Italy. Full professor until 2008.
|
 |
EVANDRO AGAZZI was born in Bergamo (Italy). He
completed his studies in Philosophy at the Catholic University
of Milan and in Physics at the State University of the same
city; he then did postgraduate study and research stays at the
Universities of Oxford, Marburg and Münster. He obtained the venia legendi in
Philosophy of Science (1963) and in Mathematical Logic (1966),
and occupied several teaching positions: at the Department of
Mathematics of the University of Genoa (Advanced Geometry,
Complementary Mathematics, Mathematical Logic), at the Higher
Normal School of Pisa (Symbolic Logic), at the Catholic
University of Milan (Philosophy of Science, Mathematical Logic),
before and after becoming full professor of Philosophy of
Science at the University of Genoa (1970). He also had the chair
of Philosophical Anthropology, Philosophy of Nature and
Philosophy of Science at the University of Fribourg in
Switzerland (1979-1998), and a chair of philosophy in the
Department of Humanities of the Autonomous Metropolitan
University/Campus of Cuajimalpa of Mexico City (2009-2013). He
also taught as a
visiting professor at the Universities of Düsseldorf, Berne,
Pittsburgh, Stanford, Geneva, as well as at other universities
for shorter times. At present he is Emeritus Professor of
Philosophy at the University of Genoa and full Professor in the
Department of Bioethics of the Universidad Panamericana of
Mexico City. He was an invited speaker at many international
congresses and conferences, and has given numerous lectures in
all continents. He is Doctor honoris
causa of the
Universities of Cordoba, Santiago del Estero and Cuyo/Mendoza
(Argentina), Ricardo Palma of Lima (Peru), Urbino and Varese
(Italy), Colegio de Estudios de Posgrado de la Ciudad de México.
He is President of the International Academy of
Philosophy of Science (Brussels), He was President, and is now
Honorary President, of the International Federation of the
Philosophical Societies (FISP), of the International Institute
of Philosophy (Paris), and of several other Academies and
learned institutions of different countries. In the past he was
(twice) President of the Italian Society of Logic and Philosophy
of Science, of the Ligurian Philosophical Association, of the
Italian Philosophical Society, of the Swiss Society of Logic and
Philosophy of Science, and of many other learned institutions.
He was also Treasurer of the International Council for
Philosophy and Humanities of UNESCO. He was member of the
Italian National Committee for Bioethics and is currently member
of the Committee for the Ethics of Research and Bioethics of the
Italian National Research Council.
Among the honours he received the most salient are:
the prize “Centro di Studi Filosofici di Gallarate” (1962) for
his book Introduzione ai
problemi dell’assiomatica; the “European Prize
Cortina-Ulisse” (1983) and the “Prince of Liechtenstein Prize”
(1983) for his book Il
bene, il male e la scienza, the “International Prize for
Philosophy Salento “ (2004) for his global work.
He has been elected member of the Russian Academy
of Sciences (2012) and of the Mexican Academy of Sciences (2012)
His
publications include more than 80 books, of which he is the
author and/or the editor, and almost 1000 papers and articles,
including contributions to books, anthologies, encyclopaedias,
and journals, apart from many book reviews and newspaper
articles. He is the editor of Epistemologia, an
Italian journal for the Philosophy of Science, and of Nuova Secondaria, an
Italian journal for high school teachers, and is a consulting
editor of several international journals such as Erkenntnis, Revue
Internationale de Philosophie, Zeitschrift
für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie, Medicina e Morale, Modern Logic, Kos, Sandhan, Sensus Communis,
Argumentos de razón técnica, Anthopos & Iatria, A & P:
Anthropology and Philosophy, Metatheoria. He has been and
is a member of the editorial board of learned dictionaries and
encyclopaedias.
Among his works, the following books may be mentioned: Introduzione ai problemi
dell'assiomatica, 1961;
La logica simbolica, 1964; Temi e problemi di
filosofia della fisica, 1969; Le geometrie non euclidee e
i fondamenti della geometria (with D. Palladino), 1978; I sistemi fra scienza e
filosofia (ed.), 1978;
Studi sul problema del
significato (ed.),
1979; Modern Logic. A Survey (ed.),
1981; Science et foi. Perspectives
nouvelles sur un vieux problème, 1983; Storia delle scienze
(ed.), 1984; La filosofia
della scienza in Italia nel '900 (ed.), 1986; Weisheit im Technischen,
1986; Philosophie,
science, métaphysique, 1987; Probability in the Sciences
(ed.), 1988; L'objectivité
dans les différentes sciences (ed.), 1988; Filosofia, scienza e verità
(with L. Geymonat e F. Minazzi), 1989; Logica filosofica e logica
matematica (ed.), 1990; Quale etica per la
bioetica? (ed.), 1990;
La comparabilité des
théories scientifiques (ed.), 1990; Philosophy and the Origin
and Evolution of the Universe (ed. with A. Cordero),
1991; The problem of
Reductionism in Science (ed.), 1991; Science and sagesse (ed.),
1991; Il bene, il male e
la scienza, 1992;
Bioetica e persona (ed.), 1993; Cultura scientifica e
interdisciplinarità, 1994; Interpretazioni attuali
dell'uomo: filosofia, scienza, religione (ed.), 1995; Il tempo nella scienza e
nella filosofia (ed.), 1995; Filosofia della natura. Scienza e cosmologia, 1995; Philosophy
of Mathematics today (ed. with G. Darvas), 1997; Realism and Quantum Physics
(ed.), 1998; Paidéia,
verità, educazione, 1999; Advances in the Philosophy
of Technology (ed. with H. Lenk), 1999; The Reality of the
Unobservable (ed. with M. Pauri), 2000; Life-Interpretation and the
Sense of Illness within the Human Condition. Medicine and
Philosophy in a Dialogue (ed. with A.T.Tymieniecka),
2001; The Problem of the
Unity of Science (ed. with J. Faye), 2001; Complexity and Emergence
(ed. with L. Montecucco); Right,
Wrong and Science. The Etical Dimensions of the
Techno-Scientific Enterprise (edited by C. Dilworth),
2004; Valore e limiti del
senso comune (ed.), 2004; Operations and
Constructions in Science (ed. with Ch. Thiel), 2006; Epistemology
and the Social (ed. with J.Echeverria and A.
Gomez), 2008; Science and
Values. The Axiological Context of Science (ed. with. F. Minazzi), 2008, Le rivoluzioni scientifiche
e il mondo moderno (2008); Relations Between
Human Sciences and Natural Sciences (ed. with G.Di
Bernardo), 2010; Evolutionism
and Religion(ed. with F. Minazzi), 2011; La ciencia y el alma de
Occidente, 2011; Ragioni
e limiti del formalismo, Saggi di filosofia della logica e
della matematica, 2012;
Representation and
Explanation in the Sciences (ed.), 2013; The Legacy of A.M. Turing
(ed.), 2013; Scientific Objectivity
and its
Contexts, 2014; Science,
Metaphysics, Religion (ed.), 2014; The
Practical Turn in Philosophy of Science (ed. with
Gerrhard Heinzmann),
2015.
Some of these works have been translated in
different languages: French, English, German, Spanish,
Portuguese, Russian, Polish. Hungarian.
Details. In the first stage of his research he devoted his
study to mathematical logic and the foundations of mathematics
and developed a philosophical view centered on a sharp criticism
of extreme formalism. He then moved to the study of foundational
problems in the empirical sciences, at the same time elaborating
his own original philosophy of science whose core is an
articulated theory of scientific “objectivity” based on a
distinction between common sense “things” and scientific
“objects”, that are structured sets of selected attributes
expressing the special “point of view” from which a given
science considers reality. These attributes are expressed
through specialized “predicates” and the “basic predicates” of
an empirical science are equipped with standardized operational
criteria of reference that allow for the empirical test of
statements. In such a way scientific objectivity has a “weak”
sense, according to which it consists in the intersubjective
agreement among specialists secured by the use of standardized
criteria of referentiality, but also a “strong” sense according
to which it consists in the
fact of having precise concrete referents, equally
attained by means of the same operational criteria. This
doctrine has far reaching consequences. It vindicates the
legitimacy of “scientific truth”, recognizing that it is
“relative” to the actual referents of the scientific theory
concerned, and thanks to this fact, advocates a “realist”
conception of science, including the admission of the existence
also of theoretical (non observable) entities. In addition, this
view presents an “analogical” concept of science that does not
imply the reduction of scientificity to one single model. The
awareness of the “partiality” of the point of view of any
science opens the way to the consideration of broader points of
view on reality and on science itself, that fully legitimate the
rationality of metaphysical inquiry (also regarding the
metaphysics of science) as well as the embedding of science into
broader contexts of moral, social and political nature. Thanks
to an original approach based on general systems theory all
these dimensions can be harmonized with a substantial respect of
the freedom of science.