The myth was the first form of "cosmology". In the animistic universe of primitive peoples, anthropomorphic beings determined the natural phenomena and the fate of humans. Surpassing animist cosmogonies, the pre-Socratic philosophers attempted to interpret natural phenomena with natural causes. Their naturalistic cosmologies constituted the historical-dialectical denial of the primordial cosmogonies.

After about two thousand years, the time for science had come, which, in turn, became the dialectical denial and transcendence of rational cosmologies and, more generally, of philosophy. Starting from macroscopic observation and action, science formed a body of knowledge with specific content, qualitative characteristics, and quantitative relations.

Science, as a form of social practice, is an endless process and is predominantly a historical science: from the macrocosm to the atom and the molecule, to subatomic particles, to the atomic nucleus, and today, to the sub-quantum level. On the other hand: the macrocosm, stars, planetary systems, galaxies, clusters of galaxies, vast accumulations of matter, formations spanning billions of light-years.

Matter: inexhaustible in extent and depth. Without beginning and without end. The infinity of matter in space and time. A position that cannot be proven. But why matter and not nothingness? The objectivity and self-existence of matter are principles (principes). As principles, they are proposed. They are not proven. But: 1) They are inferred as the generalization and theoretical transcendence of experience, and 2) they are the only ones that do not lead to contradictions.

Has Aristotle's "wonder" been satisfied? If so, then humanity has grasped the infinite. Which is a contradiction!

BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS

Evthychis Bitsakis was born in 1927 in the village of Kados in Crete. He studied Chemistry at the University of Athens, Theoretical Physics, and Philosophy in Paris. He holds a PhD in Philosophy from Paris VIII and a Doctorate of State in France (Philosophy of Sciences). He worked at the Nuclear Center of Saclay and at the Nuclear Physics Laboratory of the Collège de France.

From 1970 to 1976, he taught Mathematics at the University XI of Paris and Philosophy of Sciences at University VIII. After returning to Greece (1976), he worked as a senior researcher at the National Hellenic Research Foundation. In 1981, he was elected a full professor at the Chair of Philosophy at the University of Ioannina and served for six years as the dean of the Faculty of Philosophy.

A former lecturer in Theoretical Physics at the University of Athens, he taught the course "Introduction to Physical Theories" in the Physics Department. The main research interests of E. Bitsakis are the foundations of the sciences (Relativity, Quantum Mechanics), Ontology, Epistemology, and Philosophical Anthropology. His books and articles in these fields of knowledge are published in the major European languages.

E. Bitsakis has been involved in the left movement since his student years. During the Civil War, he was sentenced to many years in prison. During the dictatorship, he actively participated in the anti-dictatorship movement in Europe as a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece. He has developed diverse social activities within the framework of the World Federation of Scientists, UNESCO, the Center for Marxist Research in Paris, the Greek Center for Marxist Research, and more.

He also participated in the organization of the Free Open University of Paris and was a member of the Athens Municipality's group and the Ministry of Culture for the creation of Open Universities. He initiated the organization of the Seminar "Foundations of the Sciences" (Physics Department, University of Athens) and was responsible for organizing many Greek and international scientific conferences.

Finally, he was responsible for creating the magazine Contemporary Issues, was part of the editorial team of the magazine Dialectics, and since 1992 has been the publisher of the theoretical magazine Utopia. His books Roads of Dialectics, The Evergreen Tree of Knowledge, and Matter and Spirit are published by Agra Publications.