Table Of ContentGustavo E. Romero
Scientifi c
Philosophy
Scientific Philosophy
Gustavo E. Romero
Scientific Philosophy
123
GustavoE.Romero
InstitutoArgentinodeRadioastronomía
VillaElisa,BuenosAires,Argentina
ISBN978-3-319-97630-3 ISBN978-3-319-97631-0 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97631-0
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Themachineryoftheworldis fartoo
complexforthesimplicityofmen.
—JorgeLuis Borges
Goas farasyou can see;when youget there,
you’llbeableto seefurther.
—ThomasCarlyle
To Blumina,again.
Foreword
So far as I know,this is the onlybooktitled ScientificPhilosophypublishedsince
Reichenbach’s dated and forgotten work of 1961. Moreover, although Romero’s
workbelongsinthemovementinitiatedinthe1920sbytheViennaCircle,itdeparts
radicallyfromtheempiricisttradition,ifonlybecauseittakesmetaphysicsseriously
tothepointofseekingtoupdateitinthelightofcurrentscience.
Thisbookiscontroversial,becauseitcriticizesanumberofsacredcows,suchas
thebeliefsthatsciencehasnophilosophicalpresuppositions,thatspaceandtimeare
immaterial,thatmatterdoesnotmatter,andthatvaluesarenotofthisworld.Butno
onecandoubtthattheauthorhasstrivedtooffergoodreasonsforhisheterodoxies
andthathisproseiscrystalcleartoanyonewhobotherstounderstandhistechnical
terms. Surely, the readers of Romero’s sober and calm didactic prose may miss
the ironiesof Bertrand Russell’s. But then, the mentor of a groupof twenty or so
explorersofwhitedwarfs,blackholes,andcosmicraysandthe likefindsnotime
towasteonacloudofgnatsintentonsnuffingoutthefewcandlesthatilluminethe
darkrecessesofthelongpostmodernistcavewherewehavebeenabandoned.
The most obvious criticism of this work is that it identifies science with
contemporary physics, whence it neglects some of the classical philosophical
conundrums,suchasthenatureofmindandtheindividualist-holismdilemmathat
hasplaguedsocialscience.Thesaidcollapseof“science”onto“physics”alsoleads
to underratingor even ignoringthe views that to philosophizeis to search for the
goodlife,thatjusticeisbothdefinableandattainable,thatobjectivitydoesnotentail
impartiality,andthatgoodphilosophyisouronlydefenseagainstbadscienceand
eviltechnology.Adifferenttitle,suchas“Thephilosophicalrootsofscience,”might
bemorefaithful,butitmightalsodeterthosewhofeartheintrusionofsuperstition.
Romero’s search for objectivity and testability endangers the vast edifice of
bayesianism,ortheinterpretationofprobabilityasdegreeofbeliefratherthanasthe
measureofrealpossibility.Buttheenemyofarbitrarinessandthereaderinsearch
of intellectual stimulation is likely to welcome such attacks on the philosophical
industriesoftheday.
Insum,letusread,discuss,andtrytooutdothisrecentvindicationandupdateof
Aristotle’s conceptionof scientific philosophy,or philosophicalscience, as both a
vii
viii Foreword
toolandanidealofthosewhosearchforthetruthinsideoroutsidethenine-to-five
cage.
DepartmentofPhilosophy MarioBunge,FRSC
McGillUniversity
Montreal,QC,Canada
Preface
This book is the result of my long engagement with philosophy as a research
scientist. During the three decades I have pondered about many of the major
philosophicalproblemsposedbyphysics,Ihavesoughtforreasonablearticulations
ofthewideworldviewimpliedbyourbestcurrentscientifictheories,Ihavereflected
uponthenatureofthescientificenterprise,andIhavedespairedoftheworkofmany
professionalphilosophers.Philosophyhasbecame,atleastinmostoftheEnglish-
speaking world, a sophisticated and highly technical activity. This technicality,
unfortunately, many times serves no major purpose since the topics dealt with
are completely at odds with science. It seems to me that the image of the world
manyphilosophersadoptisthatofthecommonsenseandeverydayintuitions.The
physicaldepictionoftheworldonwhichmuchofthecurrentphilosophicaldebateis
basedismorelikethatoftheGreekatomistsorthatpresentedinLucretius’sRerum
Natura than that of contemporary physics. This is very regrettable since current
scienceis in desperateneedof philosophicalworkto clarifytheultimate meaning
of its theories and to yield a coherent view of the world. It is not surprising that
many scientists, when they learn that academic philosophersdevote long articles,
intricatearguments,andevenlengthytreatisestoconcludethingssuchasthatthey
donotexistorthattherearenophysicalobjectsotherthanpeopleandatoms,give
up philosophyaltogether. And this is regrettablebecause then some of those very
same scientists feel the need to express some philosophical implications of their
work...andendarticulatingabsurditiessuchasthattheuniverseisamathematical
structureorthatthecomputervirusesareaformoflife.Inthemeanwhile,themain
loserisourcivilization,whichdependscriticallyonasciencewhosedeepmeaning
ismostlyignored.
Thisbookisareactiontosuchastateofaffairs.Asaworkingscientist,Iknow
well the advantages of some philosophical instruction as well as the perils of an
open anti-philosophical stance. Some philosophical insight helps the scientist to
graspbetterthefullmeaningofconceptssuchasthoseof“law,”“theory,”“model,”
“truth,” “relevancy,” “property,” “existence,” “space,” “state,” “time,” “chance,”
“probability,”andmanyothersthatareusedineverydayresearch.Ascientistwho
understandswhatheorsheisdoingcanallegedlydoabetterwork.Ascientist,on
ix
x Preface
theotherhand,whodespisesphilosophyisatriskoffallinginadvertentlyintosome
badorobsoletephilosophythatmighthinderfurtherresearch.
Thisworkpresentsaclearandstraightviewofthemainphilosophicalissuesthat
inmyopinionarerelevanttoscientists.Ofcourse,somephilosopherswilldisagree
with my views. I have tried to stay as close as possible to the standard scientific
imageinordertopresentelucidationsofthemainconceptsofphilosophicalimpor-
tancethatappearinthespecialsciences.Theoverallapproachisepistemologically
realisticandontologicallymaterialistic(manywouldprefertheword“naturalistic”).
The text emergedfrom lectures on scientific philosophyaddressed to scientists at
the Universities of La Plata, San Martín, Mexico, Karlsruhe, and Barcelona. The
bookcanbeusedasatextbookforashort(onesemester)graduatecourseforeither
scientistsandphilosopherswithsomebackgroundinscience.Thosegeneralreaders
whoareconcernedwithphilosophybutaretiredofreadingincomprehensiblejargon
andwildspeculationswillfindhere,Ihope,somestimulatinganddirectmaterial.
Thefirstpartofthebookprovidesanexpositionofthemaintopicsofscientific
philosophy:semantics, ontology,epistemology,ethics, and aesthetics. The second
partofthebookpresentssomeapplicationsofthescientificmethodinphilosophy.
I focus on three major problems: the nature of mathematics, the interpretation of
quantummechanics,andtheontologyofspace-time.Alongwithseveralproblems
inthe neurosciences,Ithinkthatthese arethe moreurgentphilosophicalissuesin
currentscientificresearch.Unavoidably,thesechaptersaremoredemandingforthe
reader. For this reason, I include in them more references and more introductory
material.Ihopetheywillstimulatesomereaderstopursuefurtherresearchonsuch
subjects.
Sitges,Catalonia,Spain GustavoE.Romero
11January2018
Acknowledgments
IammostgratefultoMarioBungeforinspiration,guidance,andcriticalreviewsof
myworkalongmanyyears.Hisfriendshiphasbeenoneofthejoysofmylife.Ihave
nodoubtthathewoulddisapprovemanyofmyclaimsinthisbook.Nevertheless,at
thesametime,Iamsurethathewouldbesatisfiedoftheoverallscientific-oriented
spiritofthebook.
Iwanttothankthemanystudentswhohavetakenmycoursesonphilosophical
topics over the years at the universities of La Plata, San Martín, UNAM-Morelia,
Karlsruhe (KIT), and Barcelona. Their questions and interest have shaped the
materialof this book.I am also gratefulto my enthusiastic PhD students Luciano
CombiandFedericoLópezArmengolformanydiscussionsonfoundationalissues.I
havelearnedmanythingsfromconversationsonthetopicsofthisbookwithfriends
andcolleagues.IwanttomentionSantiagoPerez-Bergliaffa,ValentiBosch-Ramon,
Pablo Jacovkis, Janou Glaeser, Gerardo Primero, Nicolás Pérez, Matías Castro,
Federico Aisenberg, Federico Langer, Carlos Romero, Silvio Sánchez Mújica,
HéctorVucetich,SergioRivadeNeyra,NelsonPinto-Neto,FelipeTovarFalciano,
Rafael González del Solar, and Javier López de Casenave. I also benefited from
manycorrespondentsthroughthe Internet.GerardoPrimero,Nicolás Pérez, Pablo
Jacovkis,and SergioRiva de Neyra madevaluableremarkson early draftsof this
book.Isincerelythanktheircomments.
Special thanks go to Daniela Pérez and my daughter Blumina Romero, for
support,encouragement,andcriticalobservations.
IalsoremaingratefultoPaulaBenagliaformanyyearsofsupport,comprehen-
sion,andhelp.ThankyouPaula,foreverything.
Some material presented in this book has been adapted from the articles listed
below. I am very thankfulto the editors of the journals for permission to use this
stuff.
• Perez-Bergliaffa,S.E.,Romero,G.E.,andVucetich,H.1993,Axiomaticfounda-
tionsofnonrelativisticQuantumMechanics:Arealistic approach,Int.J.Theor.
Phys.,32,1507–1522.
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