Logical Empiricism in North America (Volume 18) (Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science)

This latest volume in the longest-standing and most influential series in the field of the philosophy of science extends and expands on the discipline's recent historical turn. These essays take up the historical, sociological, and philosophical questions surrounding the particular intellectual movement of logical empiricism-both its emigration from Europe to North America in the 1930s and 1940s and its development in North America through the 1940s and 1950s. With an introduction placing them in their philosophical and historical context, these essays bear witness to the fact that the history of the philosophy of science, far more than a mere repository of anecdote and chronology, might be able to produce a decisive transformation in the philosophy of science itself. Contributors: Richard Creath, Arizona State U; Michael Friedman, Stanford U; Rudolf Haller, U of Graz; Don Howard, Notre Dame; Diederick Raven, U of Utrecht; George Reisch; Thomas Ricketts, Northwestern U; Friedrich K. Stadler, U of Vienna; Thomas E. Uebel, U of Manchester. Gary L. Hardcastle is assistant professor of philosophy at Bloomsburg University. Alan W. Richardson is associate professor of philosophy at the University of British Columbia.

This latest volume in the longest-standing and most influential series in the field of the philosophy of science extends and expands on the discipline's recent historical turn. These essays take up the historical, sociological, and philosophical questions surrounding the particular intellectual movement of logical empiricism-both its emigration from Europe to North America in the 1930s and 1940s and its development in North America through the 1940s and 1950s. With an introduction placing them in their philosophical and historical context, these essays bear witness to the fact that the history of the philosophy of science, far more than a mere repository of anecdote and chronology, might be able to produce a decisive transformation in the philosophy of science itself.Contributors: Richard Creath, Arizona State U; Michael Friedman, Stanford U; Rudolf Haller, U of Graz; Don Howard, Notre Dame; Diederick Raven, U of Utrecht; George Reisch; Thomas Ricketts, Northwestern U; Friedrich K. Stadler, U of Vienna; Thomas E. Uebel, U of Manchester. Gary L. Hardcastle is assistant professor of philosophy at Bloomsburg University. Alan W. Richardson is associate professor of philosophy at the University of British Columbia.

Contents......Page 6 Introduction: Logical Empiricism in North America......Page 8 1. Logical Empiricism, American Pragmatism, and the Fate of Scientific Philosophy in North America......Page 32 2. Two Left Turns Make a Right: On the Curious Political Career of North American Philosophy of Science at Midcentury......Page 56 3. Hempel and the Vienna Circle......Page 125 4. On Herbert Feigl......Page 146 5. Edgar Zilsel in America......Page 160 6. Philipp Frank’s History of the Vienna Circle: A Programmatic Retrospective......Page 180 7. Debabelizing Science: The Harvard Science of Science Discussion Group, 1940–41......Page 201 8. Disunity in the International Encyclopedia of Unified Science......Page 228 9. Transfer and Transformation of Logical Empiricism: Quantitative and Qualitative Aspects......Page 247 10. The Linguistic Doctrine and Conventionality: The Main Argument in “Carnap and Logical Truth”......Page 265 11. Languages and Calculi......Page 288 Contributors......Page 312 C......Page 316 E......Page 317 H......Page 318 L......Page 319 N......Page 320 Q......Page 321 S......Page 322 V......Page 323 Z......Page 324 Annotation An essential overview of this important intellectual movement. This latest volume in the longest-standing and most influential series in the field of the philosophy of science extends and expands on the discipline's recent historical turn. These essays take up the historical, sociological, and philosophical questions surrounding the particular intellectual movement of logical empiricism--both its emigration from Europe to North America in the 1930s and 1940s and its development in North America through the 1940s and 1950s. With an introduction placing them in their philosophical and historical context, these essays bear witness to the fact that the history of the philosophy of science, far more than a mere repository of anecdote and chronology, might be able to produce a decisive transformation in the philosophy of science itself An essential overview of an important intellectual movement, Logical Empiricism in North America offers the first significant, sustained, and multidisciplinary attempt to understand the intellectual, cultural, and political dimensions of logical empiricism's transmission from Europe, subsequent development in North America, and influence on our understanding of science in the twenty-first century.