Vienna Circle Institute Library – serie

Imre Lakatos (1922-1974) was one of the protagonists in shaping the "new philosophy of science". More than 25 years after his untimely death, it is time for a critical re-evaluation of his ideas. His main theme of locating rationality within the scientific process appears even more compelling today, after many historical case studies have revealed the cultural and societal elements within scientific practices. Recently there has been, above all, an increasing interest in Lakatos' philosophy of mathematics, which emphasises heuristics and mathematical practice over logical justification. But suitable modifications of his approach are called for in order to make it applicable to modern axiomatised theories. Pioneering historical research in England and Hungary has unearthed hitherto unknown facts about Lakatos' personal life, his wartime activities and his involvement in the political developments of post-war Europe. From a communist activist committed to Györgyi Lukács' thinking, Lakatos developed into a staunch anti-Marxist who found his intellectual background in Popper's critical rationalism. The volume also publishes for the first time a part of his Debrecen Ph.D. thesis and it is concluded by a bibliography of his Hungarian writings.

This collection originated at a conference organized by the Institute Vienna Circle and the University of Vienna on the Vienna Circle and Logical Empiricism and was held in Vienna in July 2001. (cf. The Vienna Orcle and Logical Empiricism. Re-evaluation and Future Perspectives. Edited by Frie­ drich Stadler. Dordrecht-Boston-London: Kluwer, 2003, Vienna Circle Institute Yearbook 10). All the essays in this volume with one exception are based on talks presented on that occasion and appear here for the first time. The contributions address a broad range of issues in the philosophy of Rudolf Carnap, but two themes stand out. Many authors respond directly or indirectly to objections against various aspects of Carnap's work: the pro gram of Der Logische Aufbau der Welt, his views on ontology and realism, and his explication of disposition predicates. w. v. Quine's shadow looms large. Rising to the challenge, these authors constructively modify Carnapian ideas or explore alternatives withoutabandoning key tenets of his empiri­ cism. As our understanding of Carnap's work in its historical context has become more nuanced and detailed over the past decade, the room for dis agreement over its interpretation has grown. Several of the papers aim to put the record straight with respect to such works as Logische Syntax der Sprache, Der Logische Aufbau der Welt, and Der Raum. This collection then attests to the continuing and growing attraction of Carnap's philosophy.

This book offers an inside look into the notoriously tumultuous, professional relationship of two great minds: Karl Popper and Paul Feyerabend. It collects their complete surviving correspondence (1948-1967) and contains previously unpublished papers by both. An introduction situates the correspondence in its historical context by recounting how they first came to meet and an extensive editorial apparatus provides a wealth of background information along with systematic mini-biographies of persons named.Taken together, the collection presents Popper and Feyerabend’s controversial ideas against the background of the postwar academic environment. It exposes key aspects of an evolving student-mentor relationship that eventually ended amidst increasing accusations of plagiarism. Throughout, readers will find in-depth discussions on a wide range of intriguing topics, including an ongoing debate over the foundations of quantum theory and Popper’s repeated attempts to design an experiment that would test different interpretations of quantum mechanics. The captivating exchange between Feyerabend and Popper offers a valuable resource that will appeal to scientists, laymen, and a wide range of scholars: especially philosophers, historians of science and philosophy and, more generally, intellectual historians.

This volume contains English translations of Gödel's chapters on logicism and the antinomies and on the calculi of pure logic, as well as outlines for a chapter on metamathematics. It also comprises most of his reading notes. This book is a testimony to Gödel's understanding of the situation of foundational research in mathematics after his great discovery, the incompleteness theorem of 1931. It is also a source for his views on his logical predecessors, from Leibniz, Frege, and Russell to his own times. Gödel's "own book on foundations," as he called it, is essential reading for logicians and philosophers interested in foundations. Furthermore, it opens a new chapter to the life and achievement of one of the icons of 20th century science and philosophy.

This volume contains English translations of Gödel's chapters on logicism and the antinomies and on the calculi of pure logic, as well as outlines for a chapter on metamathematics. It also comprises most of his reading notes. This book is a testimony to Gödel's understanding of the situation of foundational research in mathematics after his great discovery, the incompleteness theorem of 1931. It is also a source for his views on his logical predecessors, from Leibniz, Frege, and Russell to his own times. Gödel's "own book on foundations," as he called it, is essential reading for logicians and philosophers interested in foundations. Furthermore, it opens a new chapter to the life and achievement of one of the icons of 20th century science and philosophy.

The essays collected in this volume and authored by Sami Pihlström emphasize that our relation to the world we live in and seek to represent and get to know better through our practices of conceptualization and inquiry is irreducibly valuational. There is no way of even approaching, let alone resolving, the philosophical issue of realism without drawing due attention to the ways in which human values are inextricably entangled with even the most purely “factual” projects of inquiry we engage in.This entanglement of the factual and the normative is, as explicitly argued in Chapter 7 but implicitly suggested in all the other chapters as well, both pragmatic (practice-embedded and practice-involving) and transcendental (operating at the level of the necessary conditions for the possibility of our representing and cognizing the world in general). The author claims we need to carefully examine the complex relations of realism, value, and transcendental arguments at the intersection of pragmatism and analytic philosophy. This book does so by offering case-studies of various important neopragmatists and philosophers close to the pragmatist tradition, including Hilary Putnam, Nicholas Rescher, Joseph Margolis, and Ludwig Wittgenstein. It appeals to scholars and advanced graduate students focusing on pragmatism and analytic philosophy.

The essays collected in this volume and authored by Sami Pihlström emphasize that our relation to the world we live in and seek to represent and get to know better through our practices of conceptualization and inquiry is irreducibly valuational. There is no way of even approaching, let alone resolving, the philosophical issue of realism without drawing due attention to the ways in which human values are inextricably entangled with even the most purely “factual” projects of inquiry we engage in.This entanglement of the factual and the normative is, as explicitly argued in Chapter 7 but implicitly suggested in all the other chapters as well, both pragmatic (practice-embedded and practice-involving) and transcendental (operating at the level of the necessary conditions for the possibility of our representing and cognizing the world in general). The author claims we need to carefully examine the complex relations of realism, value, and transcendental arguments at the intersection of pragmatism and analytic philosophy. This book does so by offering case-studies of various important neopragmatists and philosophers close to the pragmatist tradition, including Hilary Putnam, Nicholas Rescher, Joseph Margolis, and Ludwig Wittgenstein. It appeals to scholars and advanced graduate students focusing on pragmatism and analytic philosophy.

This text provides an extensive exploration of the relationship between the thought of Otto Neurath and Rudolf Carnap, providing a new argument for the complementarity of their mature philosophies as part of a collaborative metatheory of science. In arguing that both Neurath and Carnap must be interpreted as proponents of epistemological naturalism, and that their naturalisms rest on shared philosophical ground, it is also demonstrated that the boundaries and possibilities for epistemological naturalism are not as restrictive as Quinean orthodoxy has previously suggested. Both building on and challenging the scholarship of the past four decades, this naturalist reading of Carnap also provides a new interpretation of Carnap’s conception of analyticity, allowing for a refutation of the Quinean argument for the incompatibility of naturalism and the analytic/synthetic distinction. In doing so, the relevance and potential importance of their scientific meta-theory for contemporary questions in the philosophy of science is demonstrated.This text appeals to students and researchers working on Logical Empiricism, Quine, the history of analytic philosophy and the history of philosophy of science, as well as proponents of naturalized epistemology.

This text provides an extensive exploration of the relationship between the thought of Otto Neurath and Rudolf Carnap, providing a new argument for the complementarity of their mature philosophies as part of a collaborative metatheory of science. In arguing that both Neurath and Carnap must be interpreted as proponents of epistemological naturalism, and that their naturalisms rest on shared philosophical ground, it is also demonstrated that the boundaries and possibilities for epistemological naturalism are not as restrictive as Quinean orthodoxy has previously suggested. Both building on and challenging the scholarship of the past four decades, this naturalist reading of Carnap also provides a new interpretation of Carnap’s conception of analyticity, allowing for a refutation of the Quinean argument for the incompatibility of naturalism and the analytic/synthetic distinction. In doing so, the relevance and potential importance of their scientific meta-theory for contemporary questions in the philosophy of science is demonstrated.This text appeals to students and researchers working on Logical Empiricism, Quine, the history of analytic philosophy and the history of philosophy of science, as well as proponents of naturalized epistemology.

In the summer of 1928, Kurt Gödel (1906–1978) embarked on his logical journey that would bring him world fame in a mere three years. By early 1929, he had solved an outstanding problem in logic, namely the question of the completeness of the axioms and rules of quantificational logic. He then went on to extend the result to the axiom system of arithmetic but found, instead of completeness, his famous incompleteness theorem that got published in 1931. It belongs to the most iconic achievements of 20th century science and has been instrumental in the development of theories of formal languages and algorithmic computability – two essential components in the birth of the information society.This book explores Gödel’s way from an exceptional high-school student to a firmly established young logician. Essays in Gödel’s hand from the high school show that his central philosophical and scientific convictions were formed early on, before his university studies. Particular emphasis is laid on the course that made Gödel one of the foremost logicians of all times. The scientific biography of young Gödel is followed by English translations from Gödel’s German Gabelsberger shorthand of all his early preserved notebooks on logic and related topics.

In the summer of 1928, Kurt Gödel (1906–1978) embarked on his logical journey that would bring him world fame in a mere three years. By early 1929, he had solved an outstanding problem in logic, namely the question of the completeness of the axioms and rules of quantificational logic. He then went on to extend the result to the axiom system of arithmetic but found, instead of completeness, his famous incompleteness theorem that got published in 1931. It belongs to the most iconic achievements of 20th century science and has been instrumental in the development of theories of formal languages and algorithmic computability – two essential components in the birth of the information society.This book explores Gödel’s way from an exceptional high-school student to a firmly established young logician. Essays in Gödel’s hand from the high school show that his central philosophical and scientific convictions were formed early on, before his university studies. Particular emphasis is laid on the course that made Gödel one of the foremost logicians of all times. The scientific biography of young Gödel is followed by English translations from Gödel’s German Gabelsberger shorthand of all his early preserved notebooks on logic and related topics.

The authors Matteo Collodel and Eric Oberheim take the reader on a journey through the early life of the famous Austrian philosopher Paul Feyerabend, whose groundbreaking work Against the Method forged new paths in the philosophical understanding of science. Collodel and Oberheim's book contains the translated correspondence of Feyerabend (1924-1994) with equally influential philosophers and scientists of the time, including Rudolf Carnap, Herbert Feigl, Carl G. Hempel, J.J.C. Smart, David Bohm, and Thomas Kuhn.This book offers an entirely unique approach to the philosopher Paul Feyerabend. Informative, challenging and profound, it immerses the reader deeply in the mind of a truly revolutionary philosopher of science.The main focus lies on the explanation of Paul Feyerabend's ideas on logical empiricism and quantum mechanics, which he developed especially in the 1960s. In order to appreciate the celebrated work of the philosopher, it is important to create an understanding of these formative years in Feyerabend's life and work.Anyone who knows similar discussions, like the paradigm shift of Thomas Kuhn, or has a passion for history, philosophy and science will be fascinated by the works of Paul Feyerabend. As scientists and followers of Feyerabend, Collodel and Oberheim strive to pay respect to the philosopher and to make his work accessible to a whole new generation.

The authors Matteo Collodel and Eric Oberheim take the reader on a journey through the early life of the famous Austrian philosopher Paul Feyerabend, whose groundbreaking work Against the Method forged new paths in the philosophical understanding of science. Collodel and Oberheim's book contains the translated correspondence of Feyerabend (1924-1994) with equally influential philosophers and scientists of the time, including Rudolf Carnap, Herbert Feigl, Carl G. Hempel, J.J.C. Smart, David Bohm, and Thomas Kuhn.This book offers an entirely unique approach to the philosopher Paul Feyerabend. Informative, challenging and profound, it immerses the reader deeply in the mind of a truly revolutionary philosopher of science.The main focus lies on the explanation of Paul Feyerabend's ideas on logical empiricism and quantum mechanics, which he developed especially in the 1960s. In order to appreciate the celebrated work of the philosopher, it is important to create an understanding of these formative years in Feyerabend's life and work.Anyone who knows similar discussions, like the paradigm shift of Thomas Kuhn, or has a passion for history, philosophy and science will be fascinated by the works of Paul Feyerabend. As scientists and followers of Feyerabend, Collodel and Oberheim strive to pay respect to the philosopher and to make his work accessible to a whole new generation.

This book on the life and work of Josef Schächter, member of the Vienna Circle and Rabbi, covers all writings of his Viennese period until 1938. The works include his dissertation on Nicolai Hartmann, his monograph Prolegomena zu einer kritischen Grammatik inspired by Wittgenstein, his Introduction to Logic, and several articles on linguistic and analytic philosophy, ethics, and religion. It is an important source for anyone working on Schächter, Wittgenstein and/or the Vienna Circle. It provides students and researchers with a special contribution to the Jewish cultural history of Vienna before the Shoah.

This book on the life and work of Josef Schächter, member of the Vienna Circle and Rabbi, covers all writings of his Viennese period until 1938. The works include his dissertation on Nicolai Hartmann, his monograph Prolegomena zu einer kritischen Grammatik inspired by Wittgenstein, his Introduction to Logic, and several articles on linguistic and analytic philosophy, ethics, and religion. It is an important source for anyone working on Schächter, Wittgenstein and/or the Vienna Circle. It provides students and researchers with a special contribution to the Jewish cultural history of Vienna before the Shoah.

This book contains a selection of texts written by the Rabbi and Vienna Circle member Josef Schächter after his emigration to Palestine/Israel. These are the most relevant of those texts dealing with the Vienna Circle and its method. They were mostly written in Hebrew and are here available in English for the first time. Schächter’s writings are supplemented by a transcript of an interview with him, a report by his grandson Asher Schechter, and further documentation of relevance.

This book contains a selection of texts written by the Rabbi and Vienna Circle member Josef Schächter after his emigration to Palestine/Israel. These are the most relevant of those texts dealing with the Vienna Circle and its method. They were mostly written in Hebrew and are here available in English for the first time. Schächter’s writings are supplemented by a transcript of an interview with him, a report by his grandson Asher Schechter, and further documentation of relevance.

This book is a record of a seminar on mathematical logic Kurt Gödel and Hans Hahn held in Vienna in 1931-32. The seminar proceedings, given in English translation, are a unique witness of the state of research in logic and foundations of mathematics right after Gödel had published his celebrated incompleteness theorems. The seminars explain Gödel's results in logic in detail, in contrast to his publications of the time that often were quite laconic and extremely short. This book also contains Gödel's trial lecture on intuitionistic logic held in Vienna in 1933. The manuscript, recently found among the Gödel papers kept in Princeton, is preserved in Gödel's forgotten German shorthand and published here in an English translation.  The book also adds an important aspect to the intellectual history of Vienna, as both Gödel and Hahn were members of the Vienna Circle group of philosophers and scientists.

This book is a record of a seminar on mathematical logic Kurt Gödel and Hans Hahn held in Vienna in 1931-32. The seminar proceedings, given in English translation, are a unique witness of the state of research in logic and foundations of mathematics right after Gödel had published his celebrated incompleteness theorems. The seminars explain Gödel's results in logic in detail, in contrast to his publications of the time that often were quite laconic and extremely short. This book also contains Gödel's trial lecture on intuitionistic logic held in Vienna in 1933. The manuscript, recently found among the Gödel papers kept in Princeton, is preserved in Gödel's forgotten German shorthand and published here in an English translation.  The book also adds an important aspect to the intellectual history of Vienna, as both Gödel and Hahn were members of the Vienna Circle group of philosophers and scientists.

This book provides new perspectives on the twentieth-century history of philosophy of science through the person of Ernest Nagel. Being one of the philosophical and institutional motors of the new discipline of philosophy of science, Ernest Nagel is still much underappreciated by scholars. By including a major intellectual biography of Nagel’s life and works (written by his daughter Yvonne Nagel and narrated through the personal correspondence of Ernest Nagel), this book provides a unique opportunity for researchers. The Nagel-Hempel correspondence is published here for the very first time, enabling scholars to get a sense of how logical empiricism emigrated to the States, got acclimatized, and took over American philosophy in less than two decades.

This book presents three lectures by Allan Hobson, entitled “The William James Lectures on Dream Consciousness”. The three lectures expose the new psychology, the new physiology and the new philosophy that derive from and support the protoconsciousness hypothesis of dreaming. They review in detail many of the studies on sleep and dreaming conducted since the days of Sigmund Freud. Following the lectures are commentaries written by scholars whose expertise covers a wide range of scientific disciplines including, but not limited to, philosophy, psychology, neurology, neuropsychology, cognitive science, biology and animal sciences. The commentaries each answer a specific question in relation to Hobson’s lectures and his premise that dreaming is an altered state of consciousness. Capitalizing on a vast amount of data, the lectures and commentaries provide undisputed evidence that sleep consists of a well-organized sequence of subtly orchestrated brain states that undoubtedly play a crucial function in the maintenance of normal brain functions. These functions include both basic homeostatic processes necessary to keep the organism alive as well as the highest cognitive functions including perception, decision making, learning and consciousness.

This abridged and revised edition of the original book (Springer-Wien-New York: 2001) offers the only comprehensive history and documentation of the Vienna Circle based on new sources with an innovative historiographical approach to the study of science. With reference to previously unpublished archival material and more recent literature, it refutes a number of widespread clichés about "neo-positivism" or "logical positivism". Following some insights on the relation between the history of science and the philosophy of science, the book offers an accessible introduction to the complex subject of "the rise of scientific philosophy” in its socio-cultural background and European philosophical networks till the forced migration in the Anglo-Saxon world.The first part of the book focuses on the origins of Logical Empiricism before World War I and the development of the Vienna Circle in "Red Vienna" (with the "Verein Ernst Mach"), its fate during Austro-Fascism (Schlick's murder 1936) and its final expulsion by National-Socialism beginning with the "Anschluß" in 1938. It analyses the dynamics of the Schlick-Circle in the intellectual context of "late enlightenment" including the minutes of the meetings from 1930 on for the first time published and presents an extensive description of the meetings and international Unity of Science conferences between 1929 and 1941.The chapters introduce the leading philosophers of the Schlick Circle (e.g., Hans Hahn, Otto Neurath, Rudolf Carnap, Philipp Frank, Felix Kaufmann, Edgar Zilsel) and describe the conflicting interaction between Moritz Schlick and Otto Neurath, the long term communication between Moritz Schlick, Friedrich Waismann and Ludwig Wittgenstein, as well as between the Vienna Circle with Heinrich Gomperz and Karl Popper. In addition, Karl Menger's "Mathematical Colloquium" with Kurt Gödel is presented as a parallel movement. The final chapter of this section describes the demise of the Vienna Circle andthe forced exodus of scientists and intellectuals from Austria. The second part of the book includes a bio-bibliographical documentation of the Vienna Circle members and for the first time of the assassination of Moritz Schlick in 1936, followed by an appendix comprising an extensive list of sources and literature.

This abridged and revised edition of the original book (Springer-Wien-New York: 2001) offers the only comprehensive history and documentation of the Vienna Circle based on new sources with an innovative historiographical approach to the study of science. With reference to previously unpublished archival material and more recent literature, it refutes a number of widespread clichés about "neo-positivism" or "logical positivism". Following some insights on the relation between the history of science and the philosophy of science, the book offers an accessible introduction to the complex subject of "the rise of scientific philosophy” in its socio-cultural background and European philosophical networks till the forced migration in the Anglo-Saxon world.The first part of the book focuses on the origins of Logical Empiricism before World War I and the development of the Vienna Circle in "Red Vienna" (with the "Verein Ernst Mach"), its fate during Austro-Fascism (Schlick's murder 1936) and its final expulsion by National-Socialism beginning with the "Anschluß" in 1938. It analyses the dynamics of the Schlick-Circle in the intellectual context of "late enlightenment" including the minutes of the meetings from 1930 on for the first time published and presents an extensive description of the meetings and international Unity of Science conferences between 1929 and 1941.The chapters introduce the leading philosophers of the Schlick Circle (e.g., Hans Hahn, Otto Neurath, Rudolf Carnap, Philipp Frank, Felix Kaufmann, Edgar Zilsel) and describe the conflicting interaction between Moritz Schlick and Otto Neurath, the long term communication between Moritz Schlick, Friedrich Waismann and Ludwig Wittgenstein, as well as between the Vienna Circle with Heinrich Gomperz and Karl Popper. In addition, Karl Menger's "Mathematical Colloquium" with Kurt Gödel is presented as a parallel movement. The final chapter of this section describes the demise of the Vienna Circle andthe forced exodus of scientists and intellectuals from Austria. The second part of the book includes a bio-bibliographical documentation of the Vienna Circle members and for the first time of the assassination of Moritz Schlick in 1936, followed by an appendix comprising an extensive list of sources and literature.

This book presents three lectures by Allan Hobson, entitled “The William James Lectures on Dream Consciousness”. The three lectures expose the new psychology, the new physiology and the new philosophy that derive from and support the protoconsciousness hypothesis of dreaming. They review in detail many of the studies on sleep and dreaming conducted since the days of Sigmund Freud. Following the lectures are commentaries written by scholars whose expertise covers a wide range of scientific disciplines including, but not limited to, philosophy, psychology, neurology, neuropsychology, cognitive science, biology and animal sciences. The commentaries each answer a specific question in relation to Hobson’s lectures and his premise that dreaming is an altered state of consciousness. Capitalizing on a vast amount of data, the lectures and commentaries provide undisputed evidence that sleep consists of a well-organized sequence of subtly orchestrated brain states that undoubtedly play a crucial function in the maintenance of normal brain functions. These functions include both basic homeostatic processes necessary to keep the organism alive as well as the highest cognitive functions including perception, decision making, learning and consciousness.

Imre Lakatos (1922-1974) was one of the protagonists in shaping the "new philosophy of science". More than 25 years after his untimely death, it is time for a critical re-evaluation of his ideas. His main theme of locating rationality within the scientific process appears even more compelling today, after many historical case studies have revealed the cultural and societal elements within scientific practices. Recently there has been, above all, an increasing interest in Lakatos' philosophy of mathematics, which emphasises heuristics and mathematical practice over logical justification. But suitable modifications of his approach are called for in order to make it applicable to modern axiomatised theories. Pioneering historical research in England and Hungary has unearthed hitherto unknown facts about Lakatos' personal life, his wartime activities and his involvement in the political developments of post-war Europe. From a communist activist committed to Györgyi Lukács' thinking, Lakatos developed into a staunch anti-Marxist who found his intellectual background in Popper's critical rationalism. The volume also publishes for the first time a part of his Debrecen Ph.D. thesis and it is concluded by a bibliography of his Hungarian writings.