How the Cold War Transformed Philosophy of Science
To the Icy Slopes of Logic
Published on 21. March 2005
Book
Paperback/Softback
434 pages
978-0-521-54689-8 (ISBN)
Description
This intriguing and ground-breaking book is the first in-depth study of the development of philosophy of science in the United States during the Cold War. It documents the political vitality of logical empiricism and Otto Neurath's Unity of Science Movement when these projects emigrated to the US in the 1930s and follows their de-politicization by a convergence of intellectual, cultural and political forces in the 1950s. Students of logical empiricism and the Vienna Circle treat these as strictly intellectual non-political projects. In fact, the refugee philosophers of science were highly active politically and debated questions about values inside and outside science, as a result of which their philosophy of science was scrutinized politically both from within and without the profession, by such institutions as J. Edgar Hoover's FBI. It will prove absorbing reading to philosophers and historians of science, intellectual historians, and scholars of Cold War studies.
Reviews / Votes
'... extremely interesting and timely ... This is a book that will have an impact, both among philosophers, and beyond.' Elliott Sober, Stanford University 'Reisch has written a complex, controversial and richly documented book on the fall of logical empiricism in North America. I highly recommend it.' Philosophy in ReviewMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
7 Halftones, unspecified; 1 Line drawings, unspecified
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 26 mm
Weight
701 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-521-54689-8 (9780521546898)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
07/2005
1st Edition
Cambridge University Press
€38.49
Available for download
Person
George A. Reisch is an independent scholar.
Content
1. An introduction to logical empiricism and the Unity of Science Movement in the Cold War; 2. Otto Neurath, Rudolf Carnap, Charles Morris and Philipp Frank: political philosophers of science; 3. Leftist philosophy of science in America and the reception of logical empiricism in New York City; 4. 'Doomed in advance to defeat'? John Dewey on reductionism, values and the International Encyclopedia of Unified Science; 5. Red philosophy of science: Blumberg, Malisoff, Somerville and early philosophy of science; 6. The view from the left: logical empiricism and radical philosophers; 7. The view from the far left: logical empiricism and communist philosophers; 8. Postwar disillusionment, anti-intellectualism, and the values debate; 9. Horace Kallen's attack on the unity of science; 10. Creeping totalitarianism, creeping scholasticism: Neurath, Frank, and the trouble with semantics; 11. Frank's neurathian crusade: science, enlightenment, and values; 12. 'A very fertile field for investigation': anticollectivism and anticommunism in popular and academic culture; 13. Anticommunism investigations, loyalty oaths, and the wrath of Sidney Hook; 14. Competing programs for postwar philosophy of science; 15. Freedom celebrated: the professional decline of Philipp Frank and the Unity of Science Movement; 16. The marginalization of Charles Morris; 17. Values, axioms and the icy slopes of logic; 18. Professionalism, power and what might have been.