Poincaré’s reception in Italy

Abstract

In the early years of the twentieth century, Poincaré’s epistemological thinking was discussed in the literary-philosophical journal entitled Leonardo, in articles and reviews written by Giuseppe Prezzolini and Giovanni Vailati, allowing Poincaré’s ideas to spread beyond the circle of scientists. Prezzolini gave a radically conventionalist interpretation of language that was an adaptation of the position of Édouard Le Roy, of whom Poincaré was critical. The two most important epistemologists in Italy at the turn of the century, Federigo Enriques and Vailati, wrote several papers and reviews about Poincaré’s philosophical works, expressing significant opposition to them, though in different keys. Enriques rejected the ‘nominalism’ that Poincaré’s conventionalism led to, while Vailati harshly criticised the refusal of mathematical logic and the pride of place given to intuition in the cognitive process, identifying the ‘pragmatist characteristics’ of mathematical logic.