Mario Bunge

Mario Augusto Bunge (born September 21, 1919, Buenos Aires) is an Argentinian philosopher and physicist mainly active in Canada.

Bunge began his studies at Universidad Nacional de La Plata, graduating with a Ph.D. in physico-mathematical sciences in 1952. He was professor of theoretical physics and philosophy, 1956 - 1966, first at La Plata then at Universidad de Buenos Aires. Dissatisfied with the political climate of his country, he chose to emigrate. After a few years teaching in American, Mexican and German universities, he has taught philosophy at McGill University in Montreal, Canada since 1966. He holds the Frothingham chair of Logic and Metaphysics at the University.

Bunge set out his philosophical thinking systematically in his Treatise on Basic Philosophy, a monumental work in 8 volumes, comprising semantics, ontology, epistemology, philosophy of science, and ethics. There, and in more than 80 books and 400 papers, Bunge develops a comprehensive scientific outlook which he then applies to the various natural and social sciences. His thinking embodies global rationalism, scientific realism, materialism and consequentialism. Bunge has repeatedly and explicitly denied being a logical positivist, and has written on metaphysics, dismissed by the Vienna Circle as meaningless. In the political arena, Bunge has defined himself as a "Left-wing liberal", in the tradition of the Argentine "positivist" movement of José Ingenieros and Carlos Octavio Bunge (his uncle).

Racionalidad y realismo. Madrid: Alianza, 1985. 84-206-2445-4
Vistas y entrevistas. Buenos Aires: Sudamericana, 1997 (segunda edición) 950-07-1311-X.
Ética, ciencia y técnica. Buenos Aires: Sudamericana, 1996. 950-07-1131-1

1960. La ciencia, su método y su filosofía. Buenos Aires: Eudeba. (In French: La science, sa méthode et sa philosophie. Paris: Vigdor, 2001. 2-910243-90-7)
1962. Intuition and Science. Prentice-Hall. (In French: Intuition et raison. Paris: Vigdor, 2001. 2-910243-89-3)
1969. La Investigación Científica. Su estrategia y su filosofía. Barcelona: Ediciones Ariel. (In English: Scientific Research. Strategy and Phylosophy)
1973. Philosophy of Physics. Dordrecht: Reidel.
1980. The Mind-Body Problem. Oxford: Pergamon.
1974-89. Treatise on basic philosophy, in 8 vols. Dordrecht: Reidel.
1996. Finding Philosophy in Social Science. Yale University Press.
1998. Dictionary of Philosophy. Prometheus Books.
2001. Philosophy in Crisis. Prometheus Books.
2000. La relación entre la sociología y la filosofía. Madrid: Edaf.
2003. Emergence and Convergence: Qualitative Novelty and the Unity of Knowledge. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Andy Denis, Methodology and policy prescription in economic thought: a response to Mario Bunge.
Agassi, Joseph, and Robert S. Cohen, eds., 1982. Scientific Philosophy Today: Essays in Honor of Mario Bunge. Dordrecht: Reidel.
Raúl Serroni-Copello, 1989, Encuentros con Mario Bunge. Asociación de Investigaciones en Psicología.
Weingartner, Paul, and Dorn, Georg, eds., 1990. Studies on Bunge's Treatise. Amsterdam: Rodopi.
Vacher, Laurent-Michel, 1993. Entretiens avec Mario Bunge. Montreal: Laurent-Michel Vacher.

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