Michael R. Matthews
Description:
Mario Bunge was born in Argentina in the final year of the First World War. He learnt atomic physics andquantum mechanics from an Austrian refugee who had been a student of Heisenberg. Additionally he taughthimself modern philosophy in an environment that was a philosophical backwater. He was the first SouthAmerican philosopher of science to be trained in science. His publications in physics, philosophy, psychology,sociology and the foundations of biology, are staggering in number, and include a massive 8-volume Treatise onPhilosophy. The unifying thread of his scholarship is the constant and vigorous advancement of theEnlightenment Project, and criticism of cultural and academic movements that deny or devalue the core planksof the project: namely its naturalism, the search for truth, the universality of science, rationality, and respect forindividuals. At a time when specialisation is widely decried, and its deleterious effects on science, philosophy ofscience, educational research and science teaching are recognised – it is salutary to see the fruits of one person’spursuit of the ‘Big’ scientific and philosophical picture.