Mario Bunge

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Mario Augusto Bunge (born September 21, 1919, Buenos Aires) is an Argentinian philosopher and physicist mainly active in Canada.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Work 3 See also 4 Publications 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Biography

Bunge began his studies at Universidad Nacional de La Plata, graduating with a Ph.D. in physico-mathematical sciences in 1952. He was professor of theoretical physics and philosophy, 1956–1966, first at La Plata then at Universidad de Buenos Aires. He is currently the Frothingham Professor of Logics and Metaphysics at McGill University, in Montreal, where he lives with his wife Marta, herself a distinguished mathematician, since 1966.

Mario Bunge has been distinguished with fifteen honorary doctorates and four honorary professorships by universities from both the Americas and Europe. In 1982 he was awarded the Premio Príncipe de Asturias (Prince of Asturias Award).

[edit] Work

Bunge is a very prolific intellectual, having written more than 400 papers and 80 books, notably his monumental Treatise on Basic Philosophy in 8 volumes (1974-1989), a comprehensive and rigorous study of those philosophical aspects Bunge takes to be the core of modern philosophy: semantics, ontology, epistemology, philosophy of science, and ethics. Here, Bunge develops a comprehensive scientific outlook which he then applies to the various natural and social sciences.

His thinking embodies global rationalism, scientific realism, materialism and consequentialism. Bunge has repeatedly and explicitly denied being a logical positivist, and has written on metaphysics, a topic dismissed by the Vienna Circle as meaningless. In the political arena, Bunge has defined himself as a "Left-wing liberal", in the tradition of the Argentine "positivist" movement of José Ingenieros and Carlos Octavio Bunge (his uncle).

One of Bunge's earliest American doctoral students was a future novelist named Chaim Potok; in Potok's first novel, The Chosen, there is a university professor named Abraham Flesser who makes a cameo appearance in chapter 13 and whose ideas bear a strong resemblance to those of Professor Bunge.

[edit] See also

• List of Montrealers
• List of Montreal philosophers

[edit] Publications

Works by Mario Bunge:

• 1960. La ciencia, su método y su filosofía. Buenos Aires: Eudeba. (In French: La science, sa méthode et sa philosophie. Paris: Vigdor, 2001. [ISBN 2-910243-90-7])
• 1962. Intuition and Science. Prentice-Hall. (In French: Intuition et raison. Paris: Vigdor, 2001. [ISBN 2-910243-89-3])
• 1967. Scientific Research. Strategy and Philosophy. Berlin, New York: Springer-Verlag. Reprinted as Philosophy of Science (1998).
• 1973. Philosophy of Physics. Dordrecht: Reidel.
• 1980. The Mind-Body Problem. Oxford: Pergamon.
• 1984. "What is Pseudoscience", The Skeptical Inquirer, Vol.9, No.1, (Fall 1984), pp.36–46.
• 1974–89. Treatise on basic philosophy, in 8 vols. Dordrecht: Reidel.
• 1996. Finding Philosophy in Social Science. Yale University Press.
• 1998. Dictionary of Philosophy. Prometheus Books.
• 1998. Philosophy of Science, 2 Vols. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
• 1999. The Sociology-Philosophy Connection. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
• 2001. Philosophy in Crisis. Prometheus Books.
• 2003. Emergence and Convergence: Qualitative Novelty and the Unity of Knowledge. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
• 2006. Chasing Reality: Strife over Realism. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Works about Mario Bunge:

• VV. AA. 2003. Congreso-homenaxe internacional a Mario Bunge. Mos (Galicia), Grupo Aletheia. [Includes articles in Spanish by M. Bunge (Inverse problems), J. Aracil (MB and systems theory), A. Barceló (Philosophy and economics: three Bungen notions), I, Morgado (Brain, mind and philosphy), J. Mosterín (Biographical sketch of MB), M. A. Quintanilla (Instrumental rationality) y Héctor Vucetich (Quantum mechanics and realism), and in English by M. Mahner (M. Bunge's philosophy of biology)].
• Denis, Andy. 2003. Methodology and policy prescription in economic thought: a response to Mario Bunge.
• Denegri, Guillermo and Gladys E. Martínez. 2000. Tópicos actuales en filosofía de la ciencia. Homenaje a Mario Bunge en su 80º aniversario. Mar del Plata, Editorial Martín.
• Marone, Luis and Rafael González del Solar. 2000. <<Homenaje a Mario Bunge, o por qué las preguntas en Ecología deberían comenzar con "por qué".>> In Denegri, Guillermo and Gladys E. Martínez. 2000. Tópicos actuales en filosofía de la ciencia. Homenaje a Mario Bunge en su 80º aniversario. Mar del Plata, Editorial Martín. Pp. 153–178.
• Vacher, Laurent-Michel, 1993. Entretiens avec Mario Bunge. Montreal, Liber.
• Weingartner, Paul and Georg J.W.Dorn (eds.). 1990. Studies on Mario Bunge's Treatise. Amsterdam-Atlanta, GA, Rodopi.
• Serroni-Copello, Raúl. 1989. Encuentros con Mario Bunge. Asociación de Investigaciones en Psicología.
• Agassi, Joseph and Robert S. Cohen (eds.). 1982. Scientific Philosophy Today: Essays in Honor of Mario Bunge. Dordrecht, Reidel.

[edit] References

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[edit] External links

• Mario Bunge's Home Page.
• Selected publications.
• The Philosophical Physicist.
• Wen in honor Mario Bunge.