Biography
Bunge was born on September 21, 1919, in Florida Oeste, Buenos Aires, Argentina. His mother, Marie Herminie Müser, was a German nurse who left Germany just before the beginning of World War I. His father, Augusto Bunge, also of some German descent, was an Argentinian physician and socialist legislator. Mario, who was the couple's only child, was raised without any religious education, and enjoyed a happy and stimulating childhood in the outskirts of Buenos Aires. Bunge had four children: Carlos F. and Mario A. J. (with ex-wife Julia), and Eric R. and Silvia A., with his wife of over 60 years, the Argentinian mathematician Marta Cavallo. Mario lived with Marta in Montreal since 1966, with one-year sabbaticals in other countries.Studies and career
Bunge began his studies at the National University of La Plata, graduating with a PhD in physico-mathematical sciences in 1952. He was professor of theoretical physics and philosophy, 1956–1966, first at La Plata then at University of Buenos Aires. His international debut was at the 1956 Inter-American Philosophical Congress inPolitics
Bunge defined himself as a left-wing liberal and democratic socialist, in the tradition ofWork
Philosophy
Bunge was a prolific intellectual, having written more than 400 papers and 80 books, notably his monumental ''Treatise on Basic Philosophy'' in eight 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. In his ''Treatise'', Bunge developed a comprehensive scientific outlook which he then applied to the various natural and social sciences. His work is based on global systemism,Philosophy of social sciences
Bunge addressed issues of theory and method in the social sciences starting with his ''Treatise on Basic Philosophy'' and later in his career wrote two books entirely focused on the social sciences: ''Finding Philosophy in Social Science'' (1996) and ''Social Science under Debate: A Philosophical Perspective'' (1998). In these works he argued for an approach to the study of societies that he called systemism, an alternative to holism and individualism. He was an advocate for what he called mechanismic explanations and defended the view that social mechanisms are processes "in a concrete system, such that it is capable of bringing about or preventing some change in the system as a whole or in some of its subsystems".Awards
Bunge was the recipient of many awards throughout his career. * Guggenheim Fellowship (1971) * The ''Premio PrÃncipe de Asturias'' ( Prince of Asturias Award) for Communication and Humanities (1982) * Fellow of theSelected publications
* 1959. ''Causality: The Place of the Causal Principle in Modern Science''. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. (Fourth edition, New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers, 2009.) * 1960. ''La ciencia, su método y su filosofÃa''. Buenos Aires: Eudeba. (In French: ''La science, sa méthode et sa philosophie''. Paris: Vigdor, 2001, .) * 1962. ''Intuition and Science''. Prentice-Hall. (In French: ''Intuition et raison''. Paris: Vigdor, 2001, .) * 1963. ''The Myth of Simplicity: Problems of Scientific Philosophy''. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. * 1967. ''Scientific Research: Strategy and Philosophy''. Volume 1: ''The Search for System''. Volume 2: ''The Search for Truth''. Berlin, New York: Springer-Verlag. Revised and reprinted as ''Philosophy of Science'', 2 Vols. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction, 1998. * 1967. ''Foundations of Physics''. Berlin, Heidelberg, New York: Springer-Verlag. * 1973. ''Method, Model, and Matter''. Dordrecht: Reidel. * 1973. ''Philosophy of Physics''. Dordrecht: Reidel. * 1977. "Emergence and the Mind", ''Neuroscience'' 2(4), 501–509. * 1980. ''The Mind-Body Problem''. Oxford: Pergamon. * 1981. ''Scientific Materialism''. Dordrecht: Reidel. * 1983. "Demarcating Science from Pseudoscience", ''Fundamenta Scientiae'' 3: 369–388. * 1984. "What is Pseudoscience?", ''The Skeptical Inquirer'' 9: 36–46. * 1987. ''Philosophy of Psychology'' (with Rubén Ardila). New York: Springer. * 1987. "Why Parapsychology Cannot Become a Science", ''Behavioral and Brain Sciences'' 10: 576–577. * 1988. ''Ciencia y desarrollo''. Buenos Aires: Siglo Veinte. * 1974–89. ''Treatise on Basic Philosophy'':Bunge's ''Treatise on Basic Philosophy'' stands as his major achievement. It encompasses a quadrivium which he considers "the nucleus of contemporary philosophy", namely, semantics (theories of meaning and truth), ontology (general theories of the world), epistemology (theories of knowledge), and ethics (theories of value and right action). For approximately two decades, Bunge engaged in writing his magnum opus to investigate and synthesize contemporary philosophy in a single grand system that is compatible with the advancement of modern human knowledge both scientifically and philosophically. Treatise on Basic Philosophy: ''Semantics'' (I & II), ''Ontology'' (III–IV), ''Epistemology and Methodology'' (V–VII) ''Axiology and Ethics'' (VIII). All of these 8 volumes in 9 parts are currently in print, available under the Springer-Verlag imprint. 8 volumes in 9 parts: ** I: ''Semantics I: Sense and Reference''. Dordrecht: Reidel, 1974. ** II: ''Semantics II: Interpretation and Truth''. Dordrecht: Reidel, 1974. ** III: ''Ontology I: The Furniture of the World''. Dordrecht: Reidel, 1977. ** IV: ''Ontology II: A World of Systems''. Dordrecht: Reidel, 1979. ** V: ''Epistemology and Methodology I: Exploring the World''. Dordrecht: Reidel, 1983. ** VI: ''Epistemology and Methodology II: Understanding the World''. Dordrecht: Reidel, 1983. ** VII: ''Epistemology and Methodology III: Philosophy of Science and Technology: Part I. Formal and Physical Sciences''. Dordrecht: Reidel, 1985. ''Part II.'' ''Life Science, Social Science and Technology''. Dordrecht: Reidel, 1985. ** VIII: ''Ethics: the Good and the Right''. Dordrecht: D. Reidel, 1989. * 1996. ''Finding Philosophy in Social Science''. New Haven: Yale University Press. * 1996. "Is Religious Education Compatible with Science Education?" (with Martin Mahner), ''Science & Education'' 5(2), 101–123. * 1997. ''Foundations of Biophilosophy'' (with Martin Mahner). New York: Springer. * 1997. "Mechanism and Explanation", ''Philosophy of the Social Sciences'' 27(4), 410–465. * 1998. ''Dictionary of Philosophy''. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books. * 1998. ''Elogio de la curiosidad''. Buenos Aires: Editorial Sudamericana. * 1998. ''Social Science under Debate: A Philosophical Perspective''. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. * 1999. ''The Sociology–Philosophy Connection''. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction. * 2001. ''Philosophy in Crisis: The Need for Reconstruction''. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books. * 2001. ''Scientific Realism: Selected Essays of Mario Bunge''. Edited by Martin Mahner. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books. * 2003. ''Emergence and Convergence: Qualitative Novelty and the Unity of Knowledge''. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. * 2004. "How Does It Work? The Search for Explanatory Mechanisms", ''Philosophy of the Social Sciences'' 34(2), 182–210. * 2004. ''Ãœber die Natur der Dinge. Materialismus und Wissenschaft'' (with Martin Mahner). Stuttgart: S. Hirzel Verlag. * 2006. ''Chasing Reality: Strife over Realism''. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. * 2009. ''Political Philosophy: Fact, Fiction, and Vision''. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction. * 2010. ''Matter and Mind: A Philosophical Inquiry''. New York: Springer. * 2012. ''Evaluating Philosophies''. New York: Springer. * 2012. "Does Quantum Physics Refute Realism, Materialism and Determinism?", ''Science & Education'' 21(10): 1601–1610. * 2013. ''Medical Philosophy: Conceptual Issues in Medicine''. New Jersey: World Scientific Publishing Company. * 2016. ''Between Two Worlds: Memoirs of a Philosopher–Scientist''. New York: Springer. * 2017. ''Doing Science: In the Light of Philosophy''. Singapore: World Scientific Publishing Company. * 2018. ''From a Scientific Point of View: Reasoning and Evidence Beat Improvisation across Fields''. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars.See also
* * List of people from Montreal *References
Further reading
* Agassi, Joseph and Robert S. Cohen (eds.). 1982. ''Scientific Philosophy Today: Essays in Honor of Mario Bunge''. Reidel. * Denegri, Guillermo and Gladys E. MartÃnez (2000). ''Tópicos actuales en filosofÃa de la ciencia. Homenaje a Mario Bunge en su 80º aniversario''. Mar del Plata, Editorial MartÃn. * Marone, Luis and Rafael González del Solar (2000)External links
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bunge, Mario 1919 births 2020 deaths 20th-century Argentine male writers 20th-century Argentine philosophers 20th-century Argentine physicists 20th-century atheists 20th-century Canadian male writers 20th-century Canadian philosophers 20th-century Canadian physicists 20th-century essayists 21st-century Argentine male writers 21st-century Argentine philosophers 21st-century Argentine physicists 21st-century atheists 21st-century Canadian male writers 21st-century Canadian philosophers 21st-century Canadian physicists 21st-century essayists Action theorists Analytic philosophers Argentine atheists Argentine centenarians Argentine emigrants to Canada Argentine essayists Argentine ethicists Argentine expatriates in Mexico Argentine male writers Argentine people of German descent Argentine socialists Argentine social liberals Atheist philosophers Canadian atheists Canadian centenarians Canadian ethicists Canadian logicians Canadian male essayists Canadian male non-fiction writers Canadian memoirists Canadian people of German descent Canadian skeptics Canadian socialists Canadian consciousness researchers and theorists Consequentialists Critical rationalists Critics of dialectical materialism Critics of parapsychology Critics of postmodernism Cultural critics Epistemologists Materialists Men centenarians Metaphilosophers Metaphysicians Metaphysics writers Moral philosophers National Autonomous University of Mexico faculty National University of La Plata alumni Ontologists Philosophers of culture Philosophers of ethics and morality Philosophers of logic Philosophers of mind Philosophers of psychology Philosophers of science Philosophers of social science Philosophers of technology Philosophy writers Rationalists Scientists from Montreal Social commentators Social critics Social philosophers Systems scientists Writers about religion and science Writers from Buenos Aires Writers from Montreal