Roberto Torretti (February 15, 1930 - November 12, 2022) was a Chilean philosopher, author and academic who is internationally renowned for his contributions to the

history of philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

philosophy of physics In philosophy, philosophy of physics deals with conceptual and interpretational issues in modern physics, many of which overlap with research done by certain kinds of theoretical physicists. Philosophy of physics can be broadly divided into thr ...

and

philosophy of mathematics The philosophy of mathematics is the branch of philosophy that studies the assumptions, foundations, and implications of mathematics. It aims to understand the nature and methods of mathematics, and find out the place of mathematics in people's ...

Biography

Torretti received a doctorate from the

University of Freiburg The University of Freiburg (colloquially german: Uni Freiburg), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (german: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg), is a public university, public research university located in Freiburg im Breisg ...

under the supervision of

Wilhelm Szilasi Wilhelm may refer to: People and fictional characters * William Charles John Pitcher, costume designer known professionally as "Wilhelm" * Wilhelm (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname Other uses * Mount ...

in 1954. Shortly after he began lecturing in philosophy and psychology at the Institute of Education of the University of Chile in

Valparaíso Valparaíso (; ) is a major city, seaport, naval base, and educational centre in the commune of Valparaíso, Chile. "Greater Valparaíso" is the second largest metropolitan area in the country. Valparaíso is located about northwest of Santiago ...

. He also worked for the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

before commencing an academic career that lasted for more than forty years, during which he taught philosophy in the

University of Puerto Rico The University of Puerto Rico ( es, Universidad de Puerto Rico, UPR) is the main public university system in the U.S. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. It is a government-owned corporation with 11 campuses and approximately 58,000 students and 5,3 ...

and the

University of Chile The University of Chile ( es, Universidad de Chile) is a public research university in Santiago, Chile. It was founded on November 19, 1842, and inaugurated on September 17, 1843.

. Torretti was professor emeritus of the

, and a member of the ''Institut International de Philosophie''. In April 2005 Torretti was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona in Spain. Torretti resided in Santiago, Chile and was married to the academic and philosopher

Carla Cordua Carla Cordua (born 25 December 1925) is a Chilean philosopher. Life Cordua was born in Los Ángeles, Chile on Christmas Day, 1925. She entered the University of Chile in 1948 and studied under Bogumil Jasinowski and Oscar Marín. In 2006 she ...

. In September 2011 Cordua and Torretti were jointly awarded the National Prize for Humanities and Social Sciences by the Republic of Chile.

Philosophical work

Torretti has been greatly influenced by the German philosopher

Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant (, , ; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German philosopher and one of the central Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works in epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, and ...

and has dedicated many of his works to Kant's thought. His work ''Manuel Kant: estudio sobre los fundamentos de la filosofia critica'' is considered one of the most important literary works on the thoughts of the 18th century German philosopher. Publications such as ''Philosophy of Geometry from Riemann to Poincaré'' (1978), ''Relativity and Geometry'' (1983) and ''El paraíso de Cantor'' (1998) have made Torretti a leading authority on the philosophy of science. Much of Torretti's work has dealt with physics and mathematics, with a major focus on relativity theory and 19th-century geometry. He has devoted the book ''El Paraíso de Cantor'' to the set-theoretical tradition in

logic Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the science of deductively valid inferences or of logical truths. It is a formal science investigating how conclusions follow from premises ...

and

. Together with

Jesús Mosterín Jesús Mosterín (24 September 1941 – 4 October 2017) was a leading Spanish philosopher and a thinker of broad spectrum, often at the frontier between science and philosophy. Biography He was born in Bilbao in 1941. He studied in Spain, German ...

, he has written an original and comprehensive dictionary of logic and philosophy of science.

Academic awards

*National Prize for the Humanities, República de Chile, 2011 *Doctor honoris causa, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, 2005 *Fellow, Pittsburgh Center for the Philosophy of Science, 1983–1984 *John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellow, 1980–1981 *John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellow, 1975–1976 *Alexander-von-Humboldt Dozentenstipendiat, Kant-Archiv, Bonn, 1964–1965

Bibliography

*''Manuel Kant. Estudio sobre los fundamentos de la filosofía crítica.'' (1967, 4th edition 2013) *''Filosofía de la Naturaleza. Textos Antiguos y Modernos.'' (1971) *''Problemas de la Filosofía. Textos filosóficos clásicos y contemporáneos. (w.

Luis O. Gómez Luis O. Gómez (7 April 1943 – 3 September 2017) was a buddhologist, translator and psychologist. He spent over three decades at the University of Michigan, working in the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures, Religious Studies Program, a ...

)'' (1975) *''Philosophy of Geometry from Riemann to Poincaré.'' (1978) *''Relativity and Geometry.'' (1983) *''Creative Understanding: Philosophical Reflections on Physics.'' (1990) *''Variedad en la Razón: Ensayos sobre Kant. (w.

)'' (1992) *''La geometría del universo y otros ensayos de filosofía natural.'' (1994) *''Sophocles' Philoctetes.'' - Text and Commentary. (1997) *''El Paraíso de Cantor: La tradición conjuntista en la filosofía matemática.'' (1998) *''The Philosophy of Physics.'' (1999) *''Diccionario de lógica y filosofía de la ciencia. (w.

)'' (2002, 2nd edition 2010) *''Relatividad y espaciotiempo.'' (2003) *''Pensar la ciencia.'' . Miguel Espinoza*''En el cielo solo las estrellas: Conversaciones con Roberto Torretti.'' (w.

Eduardo Carrasco Eduardo Guillermo Carrasco Pirard (born July 2, 1940 in Santiago) is a Chilean musician, university professor of philosophy, author, and one of the founders of the Chilean folk music group Quilapayún - and the group's musical director from 1969 t ...

) *''Estudios filosóficos 1957-1987.'' (2006) *''Estudios filosóficos 1986-2006.'' (2007) *''De Eudoxo a Newton: Modelos matemáticos en la filosofía natural.'' (2007) *''Crítica filosófica y progreso científico.'' (2008) *''Estudios filosóficos 2007-2009.'' (2010) *''Estudios filosóficos 2010-2011.'' (2013) *''Estudios filosóficos 2011-2014.'' (2014) *''Perspectivas.'' (w.

). (2017). *''Por la razón o la fuerza: Tucídides 5.84-116.'' (2017).

References

External links

Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Torretti, Roberto 1930 births Chilean philosophers Philosophers of cosmology Philosophers of science Philosophy academics Living people Chilean people of Italian descent University of Chile