University
of
Genoa
Department of Philosophy - Epistemology
Section
Evandro Agazzi
| Department
of
Philosophy,
University
of Genova, Italy. Full professor until 2008.
|
 |
CURRICULUM VITAE
OF PROF. EVANDRO AGAZZI
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 70 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.
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.