HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Joseph Agassi (; he, יוסף אגסי; born May 7, 1927 in Jerusalem) is an Israeli academic with contributions in logic, scientific method, and philosophy. He studied under
Karl Popper Sir Karl Raimund Popper (28 July 1902 – 17 September 1994) was an Austrian-British philosopher, academic and social commentator. One of the 20th century's most influential philosophers of science, Popper is known for his rejection of the c ...
and taught at the London School of Economics. Agassi taught in the Department of Philosophy of the University of Hong Kong from 1960 to 1963. He later taught at the
University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Universi ...
,
Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with ...
, and York University in Canada. He had dual appointments in the last positions with Tel Aviv University.


Personal life

He was married to
Judith Buber Agassi Judith Buber Agassi (17 June 1924 – 15 July 2018) was a German-born Israeli sociologist, who wrote about women, work and the experience of those imprisoned in Ravensbrück concentration camp. She also edited the work of her mother Margarete Bube ...
Martin Buber's granddaughter – from 1949 until her death in 2018. Together they had two children, Aaron, and Tirzah, who died of cancer in March 2008. Agassi currently resides in
Herzliya Herzliya ( ; he, הֶרְצְלִיָּה ; ar, هرتسليا, Hirtsiliyā) is an affluent city in the central coast of Israel, at the northern part of the Tel Aviv District, known for its robust start-up and entrepreneurial culture. In i ...
, Israel. Tirzah's name, when she was a child, was often used by Popper in his dictum "Write it for Tirzah!" to explain his view that everyone has the duty to write in a clearly and easily understandable language.


Philosophy

Agassi's prime interest is in science, metaphysics, and politics. He takes it that philosophy is nothing if not rationalist. For over fifty years he studied the rationality of science, metaphysics, and democratic politics. An advocate of Popper's philosophy with variations, Agassi ignores many of the problems that concern some philosophers of science, chiefly that of theory choice. The problems of the philosophy of technology engage him, including the problem of choosing scientific theories and ideas worthy of application and implementation.


Israeli politics

Agassi has expressed criticism against the settler movement and has advocated for Israel to "separate" from the world-wide Jewish community:


Global politics

Agassi has written widely on global politics and on the methodology to implement global politics. His methodology is consistently procedural, without having requests for systematic procedures. His demands from those that design global politics are minimalist: small methodological changes may lead to large scale achievements. Agassi also proposes to bring global problems to public agendas for discussions in different forums, in particular in workshops where discussions are held with an agreed upon agenda: the agenda, says Agassi should be discussed and set by the participants prior to the discussion.


Publications


Books in English

* ''Towards an Historiography of Science, History and Theory'', Beiheft 2, 1963; facsimile reprint, Middletown: Wesleyan University Press, 1967. * ''The Continuing Revolution: A History of Physics From The Greeks to Einstein'', New York: McGraw Hill, 1968. * ''Faraday as a Natural Philosopher'', Chicago, Chicago University Press, 1971. * ''Science in Flux, Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science'', Dordrecht, Reidel, 28, 1975. * ''(with Yehuda Fried) Paranoia: A Study in Diagnosis'', Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, 50, 1976. * ''Towards a Rational Philosophical Anthropology'', The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1977. * ''Science and Society: Studies in the Sociology of Science'', Boston Studies, 65, 1981. * ''(with Yehuda Fried) Psychiatry as Medicine'', Dordrecht: Kluwer, 1983. * ''Technology: Philosophical and Social Aspects'', Dordrecht: Kluwer, 1985. * ''The Gentle Art of Philosophical Polemics: Selected Reviews and Comments'', LaSalle IL: Open Court, 1988. * (with Nathaniel Laor) ''Diagnosis: Philosophical and Medical Perspectives'', Dordrecht: Kluwer, 1990. * ''The Siblinghood of Humanity: Introduction to Philosophy'', Delmar NY: Caravan Press, 1990, 1991. * ''Radiation Theory and the Quantum Revolution'', Basel: Birkhäuser, 1993. * ''A Philosopher's Apprentice: In Karl Popper's Workshop'', Series in the Philosophy of Karl R. Popper and Critical Rationalism, Amsterdam and Atlanta GA: Editions Rodopi, 1993. Second edition, 2008
Contents
* ''Liberal Nationalism for Israel: Towards an Israeli National Identity'', Jerusalem and New York: Gefen. Translation from the Hebrew book of 1984. * ''Science and Culture'', Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, 231, 2003. * (with I. C. Jarvie) ''A Critical Rationalist Aesthetics'', Series in the Philosophy of Karl R. Popper and Critical Rationalism, Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2008. * (with Abraham Meidan) ''Philosophy from a Skeptical Perspective'', NY and Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008. * ''Science and Its History: A Reassessment of the Historiography of Science'', Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, 253, 2008. (This includes a corrected reprint of ''Towards an Historiography of Science, History and Theory'')


Books in Hebrew

* Letters to My Sister Concerning Contemporary Philosophy, Omer: Sarah Batz, 1976 1977. New enlarged edition, Tel-Aviv, Yedioth Aharonoth Books and Chemed Books, 2000. * (with Dov Rappel) Philosophy of Education: A Philosophical Dialogue, Israeli Ministry of Defense, 1979. * Between Faith and Nationality: Towards an Israeli National Identity, Tel-Aviv: Papirus, Tel-Aviv University, 1984. Second Edition, Revised and enlarged, 1993. English translation, 1999. * (with Moshe Berent, and Judith Buber Agassi), Israeli National Awareness, Discussion Paper No. 11–88, 1988. Sapir Center for Development, Tel-Aviv University. * Albert Einstein: Unity and Diversity, Israeli Ministry of Defense, 1989, 1994, and 2000. * The Philosophy of Technology, Israeli Ministry of Defense, 1990. * J. A., Judith Buber Agassi and Moshe Berent, Who is an Israeli? Rehovot: Kivunim, 1991. A variant of the Discussion Paper. * The History of Modern Philosophy from Bacon to Kant (1600–1800): An Introduction. Tel-Aviv: Ramot, Tel-Aviv University, 1993 and reprints. * An Introduction to Modern Philosophy, Israeli Ministry of Defense, 1996. * (With Yeshayahu Leibowitz) Chemi Ben-Noon, editor, Conversations Concerning the Philosophy of Science, Israeli Ministry of Defense, 1996. * (With Yeshayahu Leibowitz) Chemi Ben-Noon, editor, The Limits of Reason: Thought, Science and Religion; Yeshayahu Leibowitz and Joseph Agassi in Conversation, Jerusalem: Keter, 1997.


Books in Italian

* Scienza, metodolgia e societá, edited by Michael Segre, Roma: Luiss Edizioni, 2000. 186 pp. * Michael Segre, Accademia e società, Conversazioni con Joseph Agassi, Rubbatino Editore, 2004, 129 pages. * Joseph Agassi, ''La filosofia e l'individuo – Come un filosofo della scienza vede la vita'', Di Renzo Editore, Roma, 2005


Books edited

* Psychiatric Diagnosis: Proceedings of an International Interdisciplinary Interschool Symposium, Bielefeld Universität, 1978, Philadelphia: Balaban Intl. Science Service, 1981. 184 pp. * (With Robert S. Cohen), Scientific Philosophy Today: Essays in Honor of Mario Bunge, Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, 67, 1982. 503 pp. * (With I. C. Jarvie), Rationality: The Critical View, Dordrecht: Kluwer, 1987. xi+462 pp. * Hebrew Translation of Karl Popper's The Open Society and Its Enemies, Jerusalem, Shalem Publications, forthcoming, 2005.


Online papers

*A Note on Smith's Term "Naturalism

*Anthropomorphism in Scienc

*Brainwashin

*Bye Bye Webe

*Can Adults Become Genuinely Bilingual

*Causality and Medicin

*Deception: A View from the Rationalist Perspectiv

*Deconstructing Post-Modernism: Gellner and Crocodile Dunde

*Dissertation without tear

*Halakha and Agad

*Israeli Judais

*Jacob Katz on Jewish Social Histor

*Karl Poppe

*Leibniz's Place in the History of Physic

*Let a Thousand Flowers Bloom: Popper's Popular Critic

*Liberal Forensic Medicin

*Liberal Nationalism for Israe

*Liberal Nationalism (Chapters from the book in Russian

*Movies Seen Many Time

*Neo-Classical Economics as 18th Century Theory of Ma

*One Palestin

*On the Limits of Scientific Explanation: Hempel and Evans-Pritchar

*On the open grave of Hillel Koo

*Prescriptions for Responsible Psychiatr

*Quanta in Contex

*Rights and Reaso

*Science Education Without Pressur

*Scientific Literac

*Summary of AFOS Workshop, 199

*Tautology and Testability in Economic

*Technology: Philosophical and Social Aspect

The Gro *Brundtland Report (1987) Or, The Logic of Awesome Decision

*The Heuristic Ben

*The Interface of Philosophy and Physic

*The Ivory Tower and the Seat of Powe

*The Lakatosian Revolutio

*The Last Refuge of the Scoundre

*The Novelty of Chomsky's Theorie

*Theoretical Bias in Evidence: a Historical Sketc

*The Philosophy of Science Toda

*The Role of the Philosopher among the Scientists: Nuisance or Necessity

*The Theory and Practice of the Welfare Stat

*To Save Verisimilitud

*Training to Survive the Hazard Called Educatio

*Variations on the Liar's Parado

*Verisimilitud

*Who Discovered Boyle's Law


References


External links


Home page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Agassi, Joseph Academics of the London School of Economics 1927 births Living people Israeli philosophers Scientists from Jerusalem Popper scholars Critical rationalists Israeli expatriates in the United Kingdom