Jesús Mosterín

Jesús Mosterín (2008)

Jesús Mosterín de las Heras (born September 24, 1941 in Bilbao , † October 4, 2017 in Barcelona ) was a Spanish philosopher whose contributions encompass a wide range of contemporary thought. His problems often crossed the line between science and philosophy, and his guide was always rationality.

Life

Jesús Mosterín was born in Bilbao in 1941. He studied in Spain, Germany and the United States. He founded and directed the Institute of Logic and Philosophy of Science at the University of Barcelona . From 1996 he was research professor at the Philosophical Institute of the CSIC (Spanish State Research Center). He was a member of the Center for Philosophy of Science in Pittsburgh, a member of the Academia Europaea in London, the Institut International de Philosophie in Paris and the International Academy of Philosophy of Science. He introduced analytical philosophy in Spain. He also played an essential role in the introduction and development of mathematical logic and philosophy of science in Spain and Latin America. In addition to his academic work, he was active in the international publishing industry, especially in the Salvat and Hachette groups. He was committed to nature and animal protection.

logic

Mosterín acquired his basic knowledge of logic at the Institute for Mathematical Logic and Basic Research at the University of Münster. He wrote the first modern textbooks on logic and set theory in Spanish. He has worked on issues of first and second order logic, axiomatic set theory, and predictability and complexity. He has proven that the uniform digitization of any kind of symbolic objects (such as chromosomes, texts, films or pieces of music) can be seen as an application of a certain system of place values ​​for numbers. This realization gives concrete meaning to the view of the totality of natural numbers as a universal library and even as a universal database. Mosterín published all of Kurt Gödel's works for the first time . Together with Thomas Bonk , he published an unpublished work by Rudolf Carnap on axiomatics (in German). He has also devoted himself to biographical and historical aspects of the development of modern logic. His work on the lives of Gottlob Frege , Georg Cantor , Bertrand Russell , John von Neumann , Kurt Gödel and Alan Turing combine detailed biographical descriptions with the formal analysis of their most important technical results.

Philosophy of science

Terms and theories in science

Roberto Torretti and Jesús Mosterín in Santiago (Chile), 2004

Karl Popper had tried to establish a criterion for demarcating science and metaphysics. However, this task was made more difficult by the speculative turnaround in part of theoretical physics. Mosterín asked again how reliable scientific theories, hypotheses and claims of researchers can be. He distinguishes on the one hand the solid core of a scientific discipline, which should only contain the ideas that are reliable and empirically confirmed at a given moment, and on the other hand the cloud of hypotheses and assumptions that envelop the core. The theory is also advancing as new, freshly confirmed hypotheses enter the core of science. In this context he examined the relationship between perception, observation and evidence. The observation is always a conscious process, while the evidence is conveyed by technical detectors and instruments. Many signals that carry information about the world but go unnoticed to us are received by detectors and translated into energy impulses that are perceptible to our senses. Mosterín follows the path opened by Patrick Suppes by examining the structure of metric concepts. These concepts play an indispensable role at the interface between theory and observation, where the reliability of the hypotheses is checked. Mosterín also contributed to the analysis of the method of mathematical modeling. He pointed out the limits of the axiomatic method in the characterization of real systems. When reality becomes too complex to be grasped directly, the way out is through modeling. Mathematics is much better known to us than empirical reality. Therefore, it helps to choose a mathematical structure that is similar in certain aspects to the realm of reality that interests us at the moment. This structure can then be used as a conceptual machine to compute answers to our questions about this realm of reality. Finally, it should be noted that Mosterin worked with Roberto Torretti. Both authors have jointly written the unique reference work Diccionario de Lógica y FilosofÍa de la Ciencia .

Philosophy of biology

Mosterín has not only actively participated in the current discussions on developmental theory and genetics, but also asked questions about the definition of life itself and the ontology of organisms and species. In the footsteps of Aristotle and Schrödinger , he asks himself: “What is life?” He reviews and rejects the previously proposed definitions based on metabolism, reproduction, thermodynamics, complexity and evolution. While it is true that all living things on earth share many properties - from genetic code to energy storage in ATP molecules - these properties only reflect the common heritage of a common ancestor who may have acquired these properties by chance. So our biology corresponds more to a view from the top of our church tower on earthly life than to a universal science of life itself. Such a general science of life is denied to us as long as we cannot see and investigate alternative (and certainly very different) forms of life from other regions of the galaxy (if they exist). Regarding the ontological thesis of Michael Ghiselin and David Hull on the individuality of species, Mosterín points out that these are neither classes nor individuals in the conventional sense of these words. He tries to expand and specify the relevant conceptual framework. In particular, it shows the formal equivalence of the set-theoretical and the mereological (based on individuals and parts) approach: any thesis about classes of organisms can be transformed into a thesis about species as individuals, and vice versa.

Philosophy of cosmology

Mosterín has always been interested in the role that our scientific knowledge plays in building a rational worldview. He paid particular attention to the question of the reliability of cosmological theories. Together with John Earman , he has subjected the paradigm of cosmological inflation to a critical revision. Although it has gained tremendous influence in the cosmological community, and although it does not contradict any known fact, Earman and Mosterín conclude that there are not enough empirical grounds for the inflation paradigm to be included in the core of the Standard Model of the Big Bang Justify cosmology. We don't even know whether the alleged Inflaton field exists or not. Mosterín has researched the role of speculation in cosmology. In particular, he has demonstrated the various misunderstandings on which the so-called anthropic principle and the use of anthropic explanations are based. His conclusion: “In its weak form, the anthropic principle is a mere tautology, incapable of explaining or predicting anything that we do not already know. In its strong form it is an arbitrary speculation. ”He also stresses the inaccuracy of the anthropic conclusion that the hypothesis of an infinite number of worlds implies the existence of another world, just like ours:“ The assumption that an infinite one The number of objects that can be characterized by certain numbers or properties, implies the existence of objects with every possible combination of these numbers or properties, is an error. An infinite set of binary sequences need not contain any binary sequence. The hypothesis that every possible world occurs in an infinite universe corresponds to the assertion that any infinite set of numbers contains all numbers (or at least all Gödel numbers), which is obviously wrong. "

Practical philosophy

Rationality theory

Kant distinguished between theoretical and practical reason. At the same time, the rationality theorist Jesús Mosterín differentiates between theoretical and practical rationality, although, according to him, reason and rationality are not the same: reason is a psychological ability, while rationality is an optimization strategy. People are not sensible by definition, although they can think and act sensibly or unreasonably, depending on whether they (consciously or unconsciously) apply the optimization strategy of rationality to their thoughts and actions. Theoretical rationality is the strategy to maximize the scope and veracity of our ideas about reality. The criteria of rational acceptance are different, depending on whether they are analytical statements in the area of ​​logic, mathematics and grammar or synthetic statements, the touchstone of which is observation and experiment. The formal component of theoretical rationality is ultimately its logical consistency. The material or content component is linked to the empirical confirmation that uses our innate mechanisms to receive and interpret signals. Mosterín differentiates between unintentional and implicit belief on the one hand and intentional, explicit acceptance on the other. It is to this latter that the theory of theoretical rationality can actually be applied. Practical rationality is the strategy of living as well as possible, achieving our goals and fulfilling our desires. The formal component of practical rationality is essentially Bayesian decision theory. The content is rooted in human nature and therefore ultimately in our genome. Practical rationality requires the order of goals and means, taking into account the relevant knowledge. For this reason practical rationality presupposes theoretical, but not the other way around. In any case, the following applies: Any rational evidence must always be checked provisionally and at any time.

Ethics, Animals and Rights

Jesús Mosterín, Hugo van Lawick and Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente in Africa, 1969

Mosterín's interest in nature led him very early on to work with the well-known naturalist and documentary filmmaker Félix Rodriguez de la Fuente. The effort to spread knowledge and appreciation of living nature and especially animals, first in Spain and then worldwide, corresponded to the worldwide publication of the Fauna encyclopedia . As an opponent of the traditional showpieces of cruelty, Mosterín has repeatedly taken a public position against bullfights and other animal cruelty. He influenced the public discussion that led to the bullfighting ban in Catalonia (Spain) in July 2010. Shortly afterwards he wrote an in-depth analysis of this tradition and a devastating philosophical refutation of its proposed justifications. As Honorary Chairman of the Great Ape Project in Spain, he worked with Peter Singer to advance the legal claims of non-human hominids (chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas and orangutans). Mosterín denied the existence of natural or metaphysical human or animal rights. Rather, he thought that a politically organized society can create the rights it deems appropriate through the legislation of parliament. Sometimes she has to do it to avoid unnecessary suffering and misery. Following Hume and Darwin and taking into account Rizzolatti's research on mirror neurons, Mosterín saw in our innate capacity for compassion, reinforced by contact and empathy, a more solid foundation of our moral respect for animals than in mere undetectable rights.

Political philosophy

Modern, liberal democracy is a compromise between freedom and democracy. According to Mosterín, freedom ultimately means doing what I want; democracy to do what the majority of others want. By “freedom” he does not mean the metaphysical concept of free will, which is too confused for him, but political freedom, that is, the absence of coercion or interference by others in one's own personal decisions. Because of the tendencies to violence and aggressiveness that sometimes lurk in human nature, peaceful and fertile social life, as well as the protection of the environment and nature, require certain restrictions on individual freedoms, but the less the better. In particular, there is no reason to restrict individual freedoms such as language, religion, customs or travel in the name of some reified abstraction such as nation, religion or party. From this point of view, the Internet is a far more attractive model than the obsolete nation-states or the nationalist movements. Mosterín considers the nation state to be incompatible with the full development of freedom, which requires a reorganization of the world political system in a cosmopolitan sense. Specifically, he proposes a world without nation states; a world divided into small, autonomous but not sovereign cantons without an army and without the power to slow down the free movement of people, ideas and goods. This cantonal world must be supplemented by the establishment of strong world organizations, beginning with a global jurisdiction that guards and guards human rights around the world.

anthropology

Human nature

In the 21st century, the idea of ​​human nature experienced a renaissance among authors such as Edward O. Wilson , Steven Pinker and Jesús Mosterín. The deciphering of the complete human genome and ongoing research into the function of genes and other regulating DNA sequences, together with advancing brain research, have brought this classic term into focus so that it is once again the focus of anthropological thoughts. According to Mosterín, the nature of a biological species is written into its genome; the nature of Homo sapiens in its gene pool; and my individual nature in the chromosomes of my cells. Human nature consists of layers that, in a sense, recapitulate the development of the human race. The deepest and oldest layers concern the vital functions that we share with all living beings on our planet. The following shifts correspond to trains that were added later. The upper layers contain the latest acquisitions such as walking upright, precision grip, cerebral cortex, language, and other recursive mechanisms. Mosterín has dealt in depth with methods and criteria for distinguishing between natural and cultural aspects of our behavior and abilities. He has also examined and specified the theoretical foundations of anthropology. Armed with all this conceptual tool, he took part in the discussion and clarification of controversial bioethical questions: research on embryonic stem cells, birth control, abortion and euthanasia, always from the perspective of science and on the side of human freedom.

Human culture

Mosterín has developed a cultural philosophy that directly addresses questions such as: what is culture, where is it, how to explain its development over time, based on advances in cultural understanding provided by anthropology, archeology and biology. Both nature and human culture are information . The way it is passed on is different: while information from nature, codified in the genome, is passed on genetically, in the case of culture, codified in the brain, this happens through social learning. Since only individuals have brains, only they can own culture. When one speaks of collective cultures, these must be understood as statistical structures that allow us to make statements about a multitude of individual cultures. The totality of the elementary parts of a culture (also called memes , cultural traits or cultural peculiarities), which are stored in the neural networks of the long-term memory of an individual, form the culture of this individual at a given point in time. It is important to relate to time because an individual's culture is constantly changing, because every day we learn something and we forget something. The concept of a collective culture, be it a group, tribal or national culture, is used in different ways in the various contexts of everyday and scientific language. Following this, Mosterín defines various precise terms of collective culture, from a cultural mempool (the set-theoretical union of all cultures of all group members) to unanimous culture (the intersection of all these cultures). In 2009 Mosterín completed an in-depth study of the forces that determine cultural change. He paid particular attention to the recent acceleration of this change due to the influence of the Internet and other information technology factors. He describes the Internet as the kingdom of freedom and sees the preservation of freedom and efficiency of the network as an essential prerequisite for the future progress of human culture.

History of philosophy

As an admirer of the clear and fresh A History of Western Philosophy , by Bertrand Russell , for whose Spanish edition he wrote the preface, and also as a critic of some of its weaknesses, Mosterín set out to write a universal history of human thought, not just that Western, but also Asian and even prehistoric. His story deals with the most important intellectual currents with an interdisciplinary approach that depicts the simultaneous developments of philosophy, science and ideology together and in their social context, but without tracing them back to them. The analysis of the ideas is critical and without scruples, clear and rigorous. In addition, he asks about the logical correctness of the proposed arguments and points out their possible errors.

Some of the better-known books in this series are devoted to e.g. B. Aristotle, the Jews and Indian philosophy. Aristotle is presented not only as a philosopher, but also as a representative of the nascent sciences and founder of various disciplines. Particular attention is drawn to his studies of language and his interest in animals. The volume on India covers linguistics and mathematics and contains a compact presentation of the important philosophical schools, starting with the Upanishad, through the Jainist and Buddhist developments to the Advaita- Vedanta of Shankara , which obviously attracts the author.

The three most recent volumes in the series cover Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, with Judaism highlighted as the source of the others. The Jewish myths are treated relentlessly, but the author lets his sympathy for the great Jewish thinkers such as Maimonides , Spinoza and Einstein shine through. The book on Christianity is the most comprehensive of the series. Jesus is portrayed as a typical Jew. Most of the original Christian ideas come from Paul of Tarsus , not Jesus. After Constantine's conversion, theological discussions on controversial issues such as that of the Holy Trinity were resolved with the help of violence. The book analyzes the intellectual contributions of leading Christian thinkers such as Augustine of Hippo , Thomas Aquinas and Luther , and describes the historical processes such as the Crusades, the universities, the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation. Less attention is paid to the last two centuries, as Mosterín obviously thinks that Christianity has become completely disconnected from the new developments in science and philosophy during this period, so that Christian ideas have increasingly lost their relevance. The work dedicated to Islam offers a critical description of the origin of the Koran as well as Islamic theology, philosophy, legal history, mathematics and empirical science, but also Sufism . Particular attention is paid to thinkers from the heyday of Islamic civilization (8th - 12th centuries): Avicenna , Averroes , Omar Chayyām , al-Chwarizmi . The treatment of the present is less in-depth, but topical, Mosterin presents the Arab Spring and his own assessment of the current problems.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Muere Jesús Mosterín, el filósofo que amaba y defendía a los animales , accessed on October 5, 2017
2. ↑ Mosterín, Jesús (1970, 1983). Lógica de primer order . Barcelona: Ariel. ISBN 84-344-1003-6 . See also Jesús Mosterín (1971, 1980). Teoría axiomática de conjuntos . Barcelona: Ariel. 272 pp. ISBN 84-344-3947-6 .
3. ↑ For example, Mosterín, Jesús (2004). "How Set Theory Impinges on Logic". In Paul Weingartner (ed.), Alternative Logics: Do Sciences Need Them? Berlin-Heidelberg-New York: Springer, 2004, pp. 55-63. ISBN 3-540-40744-8 .
4. ↑ Mosterín, Jesús (1997). “The natural numbers as a universal library”. In Philosophy of Mathematics Today (ed. By E. Agazzi and G. Darvas), Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht-Boston-London, pp. 305-317. ISBN 0-7923-4343-3 .
5. ^ Carnap, Rudolf (2000). Studies on General Axiomatics (Bonk, Thomas and Jesús Mosterín, eds.). Darmstadt: Scientific Book Society. 167 pp. ISBN 3-534-14298-5 .
6. ↑ Mosterín, Jesús (2000, 2007). Los lógicos . Madrid: Espasa Calpe. 420 pp. ISBN 978-84-670-2507-1 .
7. ↑ Mosterín, Jesús (2001). "Technology-mediated observation". In Hans Lenk & Matthias Maring (ed.), Advances and Problems in the Philosophy of Technology . Münster-Hamburg-London: Lit Verlag, 2001, pp. 181-193. ISBN 3-8258-5149-4 .
8. ↑ Mosterín, Jesús (2000, 2008). Conceptos y teorías en la ciencia . Madrid: Alianza Editorial. 318 pp. ISBN 84-206-6741-2 .
9. ^ Mosterín, Jesús and Roberto Torretti (2002, 2010). Diccionario de Lógica y Filosofía de la Ciencia . Madrid: Alianza Editorial. 2nd extended edition (2010). 690 pp. ISBN 84-206-3000-4 .
10. ↑ Mosterín, Jesús (1996). “Life Elsewhere”. In Philosophy of Biology Today: 1st International Conference on Philosophy of Science . Universidad de Vigo, 1996, pp. 7-18.
11. ↑ Jesús Mosterín (1988). Ontological Queries and Evolutionary Processes: Comments on Hull. Biology & Philosophy (1988), n.2, p. 204-209. See also: Jesús Mosterín (1994). "Mereology, Set Theory, and Biological Ontology". In D. Prawitz and D. Westerståhl (eds.): Logic and Philosophy of Science in Uppsala . Dordrecht-Boston-London: Kluwer Academic Publishers. P. 511-524. ISBN 0-7923-2702-0 .
12. ^ Earman, John & Jesús Mosterín. (1999). "A critical look at inflationary cosmology". Philosophy of Science , 66 (March 1999), pp. 1-50.
13. ↑ Mosterín, Jesús (2000). "Observation, Construction and Speculation in Cosmology". In The Reality of the Unobservable , ed. By E. Agazzi & M. Pauri, Dordrecht-Boston: Kluwer Academic Pub, pp. 219-231. ISBN 0-7923-6311-6 .
14. ↑ Mosterín, Jesús. (2005). "Anthropic Explanations in Cosmology." In P. Háyek, L. Valdés and D. Westerstahl (ed.), Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science: Proceedings of the 12th International Congress of the LMPS . London: King's College Publications, pp. 441-473. ISBN 1-904987-21-4 .
15. ↑ Mosterín, Jesús (2008). Lo mejor posible: Racionalidad y acción humana . Madrid: Alianza Editorial, 2008. 318 pp. ISBN 978-84-206-8206-8 .
16. ↑ Mosterín, Jesús (2002). “Acceptance Without Belief”. Manuscrito , vol. XXV, pp. 313-335.
17. ^ Araújo, Joaquín (1990). Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente: La voz de la naturaleza . Barcelona: Salvat. ISBN 84-345-5235-3 .
18. ↑ Mosterín, Jesús (2010). A favor de los toros . Pamplona: Editorial Laetoli. 120 pp. ISBN 978-84-92422-23-4 .
19. ↑ Mosterín, Jesús (1998). ¡Vivan los animales! Madrid: Editorial Debate, 1998. 391 pp. ISBN 84-8306-141-4 .
20. ↑ Mosterín, Jesús (2008). La cultura de la libertad . Madrid: Espasa-Calpe. 304 pp. ISBN 978-84-670-2697-9 .
21. ↑ Mosterín, Jesús (2005). “A World without Nation States”. Acta Institutionis Philosophiae et Aestheticae (Tokyo), vol. 23 (2005), pp. 55-77.
22. ↑ Jesús Mosterín (2008). La Naturaleza Humana . Madrid: Espasa Calpe. 418 pp. ISBN 84-670-2035-0 .
23. ↑ Mosterín, Jesús (1999). "What is Culture and How Does it Evolve?" Acta Institutionis Philosophiae et Aestheticae (Tokyo), vol. 17, pp. 13-35.
24. ↑ Mosterín, Jesús (2009). La cultura humana . Madrid: Espasa-Calpe. 404 pp. ISBN 978-84-670-3085-3 .
25. ^ Foreword (Prólogo) by Mosterín to Bertrand Russell, Historia de la filosofía occidental , Madrid: Espasa Calpe, 1994. ISBN 978-84-239-7347-7 .
26. ↑ Mosterín, Jesús (2006). Aristóteles . 378 pp. ISBN 978-84-206-5836-0
27. ↑ Mosterín, Jesús (2006). Los Judíos: Historia del Pensamiento . 305 pp. ISBN 978-84-206-5837-7
28. ↑ Mosterín, Jesús (2006). India: Historia del Pensamiento . 260 pp. ISBN 978-84-206-6188-9
29. ↑ Mosterín, Jesús (2010). Los Cristianos: Historia del Pensamiento . 554 pp. ISBN 978-84-206-4979-5 .
30. ↑ Mosterín, Jesús (2012). El Islam: Historia del Pensamiento . 400 pp. ISBN 978-84-206-6991-5