Gustavo E. Romero Livres

Focusing on the foundational aspects of philosophy relevant to science, this textbook emphasizes tools for semantic analysis, ontology, epistemology, and ethics in a clear, non-historical manner. Divided into two parts, it first outlines general theories before applying them to specific scientific challenges, such as quantum mechanics and the nature of mathematics. It explores fundamental questions about meaning, truth, and the limits of science, promoting a flexible, scientific approach to philosophy that encourages ongoing revision and relevance for students and researchers in both fields.

This book is based on the lecture notes of a one-semester course on black hole astrophysics given by the author and is aimed at advanced undergraduate and graduate students with an interest in astrophysics. The material included goes beyond that found in classic textbooks and presents details on astrophysical manifestations of black holes. In particular, jet physics and detailed accounts of objects like microquasars, active galactic nuclei, gamma-ray bursts, and ultra-luminous X-ray sources are covered, as well as advanced topics like black holes in alternative theories of gravity. The author avoids unnecessary technicalities and to some degree the book is self-contained. The reader will find some basic general relativity tools in Chapter 1. The appendices provide some additional mathematical details that will be useful for further study, and a guide to the bibliography on the subject.