Carlo Rovelli Challenges 20th-Century Realism in New Book on Philosophy
Updated
Updated · IAI · Sep 15
Carlo Rovelli Challenges 20th-Century Realism in New Book on Philosophy
3 articles · Updated · IAI · Sep 15
Summary
On the Equality of All Things marks Carlo Rovelli’s first book directly confronting philosophy, arguing that analytic philosophy has drifted back toward a naive realism he rejects.
Rovelli says much of 20th-century philosophy either failed to absorb the scientific revolutions of Einstein and Bohr or remained fixated on treating mind and consciousness as fundamentally special.
In the interview, he argues electrons and minds, stones and laws, judgments and galaxies are not different in kind, framing realism versus anti-realism as a dispute muddled by unclear ideas of what counts as 'real.'
That position places science and philosophy in continuous dialogue for Rovelli, who says neither discipline can ultimately reach a final, ultimate reality.