Abstract

The thoughts of Magalhães-Vilhena concerning the relation between science and ideology are a contribution to enlighten the philosophical implications of the groundings of science, something that was under the interested look of the portuguese philosopher. It is having in mind the double meaning of science as productive force and as “manifestation of society’s spiritual life” that Magalhães-Vilhena guides his investigations in which he reveals the intimate relation between science, tecnique and social structures. For the author, it is necessary to perform that “criticism of principle” that reveals the positioning of each ideological tendency. Nowadays, quantum mechanics still rises a number of philosophical problems. Paying tribute to Vilhena’s work, I try to show the necessity of thinking in which way the different interpretations of quantum mechanics bear, in the roots of their oppositions, that most fundamental confrontation between materialism and idealism. I therefore pretend to show the pertinence and topicality of such “criticism of principle”.