Ferdinand Gonseth (1890–1975) was a Swiss mathematician and philosopher.[1]
He was born on 22 September 1890 at Sonvilier, the son of Ferdinand Gonseth, a clockmaker, and his wife Marie Bourquin. He studied at La Chaux-de-Fonds, and read physics and mathematics at ETH Zurich, from 1910 to 1914.[2]
In 1929 Gonseth succeeded Jérôme Franel as Professor of Higher Mathematics at ETH.[3] In 1947 he founded Dialectica, with Paul Bernays and Gaston Bachelard. In the same year he took the newly created chair of philosophy of science at ETH.[4]
Gonseth died on 17 December 1975 at Lausanne.[1] He was noted for his "open philosophy", according to which science and mathematics lacked absolute foundations.[5] See Idoneism .