Rigor and objectivity as foundations of the rationality of physics in Evandro Agazzi

Abstract

In current epistemology, there are two opposing attitudes towards the empirical sciences. Onthe one hand, they appear as an essential tool for the advancement of knowledge. On the otherhand, there is doubt about the metaphysical and epistemological bases of this confidence inscientific knowledge, which has led science down paths of skepticism and pragmatism. This paper aims to contribute philosophically to the rationality and ontological status of physics, taking as a starting point some works of the philosopher of science Evandro Agazzi. The article presented hereintroduces Agazzi’s thought and the core issues of his epistemology. It then defines the concepts of rigor and objectivity as understood by Agazzi, and finally establishes criteria of rigor and objectivity for physics, showing how they are verified in two classical experiments. Based on these ideas, it is shown that physics, as the science it is, has criteria of rigor and objectivity that allow it to effectively reach the real, thus responding to the formalist and pragmatist challenge. Thus, the article does notexhaust itself in a description of Agazzi’s thought, but will apply his ideas to the concrete field of physics, making explicit ideas that have not been sufficiently made explicit by the Italian philosopher.