Scientist because philosopher, philosopher because scientist

pp. 15-22

in: Felice Cimatti, A biosemiotic ontology, Berlin, Springer, 2018

Abstrakt

Why did Prodi, while engaged in his scientific work, begin to study and to write philosophy? In this chapter, I will attempt to answer this question. The guiding idea is that Prodi realized that, in order to truly be a scientist, one needs to reflect on what it means to be a scientist. Otherwise, the scientist loses the intrinsically ethico-political dimension of his or her work. But once Prodi stepped into the philosophical field, he could not stop, since—consistent with his belief in continuity—he realized that every philosophical problem is intimately connected with others. Prodi the scientist becomes Prodi the philosopher.