Leo Apostel (

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

, 4 September 1925 –

Ghent Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded i ...

, 10 August 1995) was a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

and professor at the

Vrije Universiteit Brussel The Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) () is a Dutch and English-speaking research university located in Brussels, Belgium.The Vrije Universiteit Brussel is one of the five universities officially recognised by the Flemish government. listof all ...

and

Ghent University Ghent University ( nl, Universiteit Gent, abbreviated as UGent) is a public research university located in Ghent, Belgium. Established before the state of Belgium itself, the university was founded by the Dutch King William I in 1817, when th ...

. Apostel was an advocate of interdisciplinary research and the bridging of the gap between exact science and

humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in universities at t ...

Biography

Leo Apostel was born

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

, Belgium, in 1925. After the second World War he studied

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. ...

at the ULB in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

with

philosopher of law Philosophy of law is a branch of philosophy that examines the nature of law and law's relationship to other systems of norms, especially ethics and political philosophy. It asks questions like "What is law?", "What are the criteria for legal Vali ...

and logician

Chaïm Perelman Chaïm Perelman (born Henio (or Henri) Perelman; sometimes referred to mistakenly as Charles Perelman) (20 May 1912, Warsaw – 22 January 1984, Brussels) was a Polish-born philosopher of law, who studied, taught, and lived most of his life in B ...

. He got his

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

at the ULB in Brussels in October 1948 with the thesis ''Questions sur l'Introspection''. For another year he stayed there working as an assistant of Perelman. In 1950-1951 Apostel was a CRB fellow at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

with Rudolf Carnap, and with Carl Hempel at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

. He took his Ph.D. at the ULB in March 1953 with the dissertation "La Loi et les Causes". In 1955 he went to

Geneva , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier , website = https://www.geneve.ch/ Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...

Switzerland to study with

Jean Piaget Jean William Fritz Piaget (, , ; 9 August 1896 – 16 September 1980) was a Swiss psychologist known for his work on child development. Piaget's theory of cognitive development and epistemological view are together called "genetic epistemolo ...

at the Centre International d'Epistémologie Génétique. These experiences would influence him for the rest of his life. From 1955 Apostel lectured

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 premise ...

and

philosophy of science Philosophy of science is a branch of philosophy concerned with the foundations, methods, and implications of science. The central questions of this study concern what qualifies as science, the reliability of scientific theories, and the ult ...

at the

and the ULB for three years. In 1958-1959 he was visiting professor at the Pennsylvania State University, and from 1960 to 1979 professor at Ghent University. Leo Apostel was awarded the Solvay award for human sciences in 1985 and the

Arkprijs van het Vrije Woord The Arkprijs van het Vrije Woord (Ark Prize of the Free Word) is a symbolic award created in 1951 by Herman Teirlinck and the editorial team of the ''Nieuw Vlaams Tijdschrift'' (New Flemish magazine) to counteract ideologically driven restrictions ...

in 1986. The transdisciplinary research department

Center Leo Apostel The Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) () is a Dutch and English-speaking research university located in Brussels, Belgium.The Vrije Universiteit Brussel is one of the five universities officially recognised by the Flemish government. listof all ...

(CLEA) at the

was named after him. Apostel died at the age of 69 on August 10, 1995.

Work

Apostel was an advocate of interdisciplinary research and the bridging of the gap between exact science and

. He wrote two books about Freemasonry: ''Freemasonry: A Philosophical Essay'' in 1985, and ''Atheïstische spiritualiteit'' in 1998. His ideas about atheistic religiosity are widely acknowledged.

Origins

In his book "Oorsprong" (Origin) from 2000 Apostel gives a

metaphysical Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...

introduction about the beginning of

man A man is an adult male human. Prior to adulthood, a male human is referred to as a boy (a male child or adolescent). Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromo ...

life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for Cell growth, growth, reaction to Stimu ...

and the

universe The universe is all of space and time and their contents, including planets, stars, galaxies, and all other forms of matter and energy. The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological description of the development of the universe. ...

. This work is part of his project to develop his own scientific metaphysics. The basis for this is the contemporary

and humanities and the existing sciences from physics, astrophysics, biology, geology to anthropology. In this book he first outlines the term metaphysics, then presents an ontology, which results in his own consistent

world view A worldview or world-view or ''Weltanschauung'' is the fundamental cognitive orientation of an individual or society encompassing the whole of the individual's or society's knowledge, culture, and point of view. A worldview can include natural ...

.Oorsprong: Inleiding tot een metyafysica van het ontstaan van mens, leven en heelal
by Leo Apsotel, retrieved October 2007.

Literature

Apostel wrote about 20 books and 100 articles in Dutch, French and English. Some of his books: * Matière et Forme * Communication et Action * Logique et Dialectique * African Philosophy : myth or reality? * Afbraak en Opbouw * De Gebroken Orde * Waarde en Zin van de Cultuurwetenschappen in de 20e eeuw * 1982, "Mysticism, ritual and atheism", in Religious atheism?, Belgium * 1985, ''Freemasonry: A Philosophical Essay'' * 1998, ''Atheïstische spiritualiteit''

About Leo Apostel

* Ingrid Van Dooren and Leo Apostel, ''The Philosophy of Leo Apostel: A life history Communication and Cognition'', 1989.

References

External links

Leo Apostel
Official website,

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Apostel, Leo 1925 births 1995 deaths Writers from Antwerp 20th-century Belgian philosophers Flemish philosophers Free University of Brussels (1834–1969) alumni Belgian systems scientists Academic staff of Ghent University Ark Prize of the Free Word winners Belgian atheists