The Vienna Circle - Studies in the Origins, Development, and Influence of Logical Empiricism

This book offers a systematic, in-depth study of the Vienna Circle based on a new historiographical approach to the study of science. The author has unearthed previously unpublished archival material, which he uses together with recent literature, to refute a number of widespread clichés about "logical positivism". Following some metatheoretical and methodological remarks on the troubled relation between the history of science and the philosophy of science, the author offers an accessible introduction to the complex subject of "scientific philosophy". At the same time he provides a detailed account of the socio-cultural background of the so-called "rise of scientific philosophy". The central section of the book focuses on the intellectual setting of "late enlighten-ment". Here the author analyzes the dynamic of the Schlick Circle and presents extensive archival material related to the Unity of Science conferences that took place between 1929 and 1941. Stadler then introduces some of the leading intellectuals of the Schlick Circle and its periphery. Karl Menger's "Mathematical Colloquium" is also documented here for the first time. The author then describes the relations between Moritz Schlick and Otto Neurath, the Vienna Circle and Ludwig Wittgenstein as well as between the Heinrich Gomperz Circle and Karl Popper. The first publication of the protocols of the Schlick Circle and of an interview with Karl R. Popper completes these studies. The final chapter of this section describes the de-mise of the Vienna Circle and the forced exodus of scientists and intellectuals from Austria. The second part of the book includes a bio-bibliographical documentation of the activities of the Vienna Circle and of the assassination of Moritz Schlick and an appendix comprising an extensive list of sources and literature. In this book, the author presents an exemplary study of the rise of scientific thought and its vicissitudes in this century.