At the “Philosophy and Science” table, moderated by Cristián Warnken, Dr. Marco Corgini spoke together with the National Prize for Humanities and Social Sciences, Carla Cordua, and the Spanish philosopher Nicolás Sánchez.

The academic and director of the Department of Mathematics of the University of La Serena, Dr. Marco Corgini Videla, participated in the International Seminar “One hundred years after the Great War (1914-2014): repercussions and imaginaries from the end of the world”, carried out in Santiago as part of the “The Great War” project, which commemorated the centenary of World War I with different activities.

The international seminar was organized by the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, with the objective of addressing the reception, interpretation and consequences in its themes, both in the cultural, social and political sphere, as well as in the disciplines that organized the event (History, Geography, Political Science), of one of the most important events in contemporary history. 

On the occasion, Dr. Corgini was part of the “Philosophy and Science” panel, moderated by Cristián Warnken, where he presented alongside the philosopher and National Prize for Humanities and Social Sciences, Carla Cordua, and the Spanish philosopher (U. de Valencia) Nicolás Sánchez Durá. The activity took place at the National Museum of Fine Arts and was attended by academics, researchers, students and the general public of all ages, from Chile and abroad, among whom was also the National Prize for Humanities and Social Sciences , Roberto Torretti.

Carla Cordua presented “The Notes of Private Wittgenstein”; Nicolás Sánchez, “Wittgenstein and war: readings of Tolstoy”; and Dr. Marco Corgini, “From Ernst Mach to Niels Bohr and the Copenhagen School: Great Breaks or Ancient Unresolved Controversies in Science.”

The ULS academic referred to the scientific context of the time, to important issues about science and scientists. “In general, science is considered, at least as we know it today, as a separate thing, a kind of technique where we develop a certain specific activity that has to do with the knowledge of nature. Science was born more than 2.500 years ago – at least protoscience –, it is a long, historical development, where what we know as empirical-rational science is taking shape due to all the changes it has. “Great conflicts, changes or revolutions are not a product of immediacy,” he expressed. 

The mathematician commented on the scientific and philosophical conflicts from Rome and Greece to the time of the World Wars. He began with the disappearance of Roman and Greek philosophy, which gave way to problems related to the city and the life of man. His connection with religion in the West and the new vision of the world, with social changes generated by the Renaissance, the Protestant Reformation and other milestones until the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries. The contribution of great scientists such as Galileo, Galois, Gauss, Newton and their non-local theory of the Universe on the movement of the stars, the problems of this theory that were solved in the XNUMXth century with Einstein's General and Special Theory of Relativity (for which the determination of the speed of light was key), in addition to its confrontation with Quantum Mechanics and how the conflict was resolved, made up his presentation.

Dr. Marco Corgini concluded his presentation by reflecting that “there is not much difference between the questions one asked 2.500 years ago and the questions one is asking now. The differences have to do with progress. Indeed, in the last 400 years science has made surprising advances. There are certain common features, the enthronement of mathematics as an absolutely necessary element, and surely because the human being is an object – even if he calls himself a subject – that interacts with other objects in the world and what we have, that we create, which is mathematics. , they are like this because they are also part of that interaction, they do not appear just because. (…) The more questions we answer, the more unanswered questions we have.”   

The Great War

The “Great War” project scheduled activities from May to November. These include conferences, workshops for high school teachers, an exhibition, an international play and the seminar, prepared by the PUC academic, Patricio Arriagada.