[Francisco Arocha]
RE: References by Bunge
The following is a post sent to Gary Cziko listing some of the most
important publications by Mario Bunge.
Gary:
The most important ideas of Bunge are summarized in his Treatise on
Basic Philosophy. Although the title may suggest a broader scope, this
work is devoted to the foundations of factual sciences
(Bunge classifies the sciences into formal and factual; formal being
mathematics and logic and factual being the rest). The treatise is
composed of the following books:
Treatise on basic philosophy: Vol. 1. Semantics: Part I: Sense and
reference. Boston: D. Reidel (1974).
Treatise on basic philosophy: Vol. 2. Semantics: Part II:
Interpretation and truth. Dordrecht, Holland: D. Reidel (1974).
Treatise on basic philosophy: Vol. 3. Ontology: Part I: The furniture
of the world. Dordrecht, Holland: D. Reidel (1977).
Treatise on basic philosophy: Vol. 4. Ontology: Part II: A world of
systems. Dordrecht, Holland: D. Reidel (1977).
Treatise on basic philosophy: Vol. 5. Epistemology: Exploring the
world. Dordrecht, Holland: D. Reidel (1983).
Treatise on basic philosophy: Vol. 6. Epistemology: Understanding the
world. Dordrecht, Holland: D. Reidel (1983).
Treatise on basic philosophy: Vol. 7. Epistemology: Philosophy of
Science and Technology: Part I. Formal and physical sciences.
Dordrecht, Holland: D. Reidel (1985).
Treatise on basic philosophy: Vol. 7. Epistemology: Philosophy of
Science and Technology: Part II. Life science, social science, and
technology. Dordrecht, Holland: D. Reidel (1985).
Treatise on basic philosophy: Vol. 8. Ethics, the good and the right.
Dordrecht, Holland: D. Reidel (1989).
There is also the methodological book
Scientific research, Berlin: Springer-Verlag (1967).
and two volumes on his work:
Agassi, J. & Cohen, R. (1981). Scientific philosophy today: Essays in
honor of Mario Bunge. Boston/Dordrecht: D. Reidel.
Weingartner, P. & Dorn, G. J. W. (1990). Studies on Mario Bunge's
treatise. Amsterdam: Rodopi.
A great deal of his work is devoted to the philosophy of physics (he
was a professor of theoretical physics):
Foundations of physics. Berlin: Springer-Verlag (1967).
Problem in the foundations of physics. New York: Springer-Verlag (1971).
Philosophy of physics. Dordrecht: D. Reidel. (1973).
Many of th ideas in the epistemological books are supported in the
first four volumes, those comprising the semantics and the ontology.
So, reading these first is, I think, important for understanding the
rest. Not that the other books are difficult to read, Bunge's prose
is very clear; but that the concepts used in the books 5 and on
are presented in the first four.
Greetings,
F.