1st Edition
The Routledge Handbook of Logical Empiricism
Logical empiricism is a philosophical movement that flourished in the 1920s and 30s in Central Europe and in the 1940s and 50s in the United States. With its stated ambition to comprehend the revolutionary advances in the empirical and formal sciences of their day and to confront anti-modernist challenges to scientific reason itself, logical empiricism was never uncontroversial. Uniting key thinkers who often disagreed with one another but shared the aim to conceive of philosophy as part of the scientific enterprise, it left a rich and varied legacy that has only begun to be explored relatively recently.
The Routledge Handbook of Logical Empiricism is an outstanding reference source to this challenging subject area, and the first collection of its kind. Comprising 41 chapters written by an international and interdisciplinary team of contributors, the Handbook is organized into four clear parts:
- The Cultural, Scientific and Philosophical Context and the Development of Logical Empiricism
- Characteristic Theses of and Specific Issues in Logical Empiricism
- Relations to Philosophical Contemporaries
- Leading Post-Positivist Criticisms and Legacy
Essential reading for students and researchers in the history of twentieth-century philosophy, especially the history of analytical philosophy and the history of philosophy of science, the Handbook will also be of interest to those working in related areas of philosophy influenced by this important movement, including metaphysics and epistemology, philosophy of mind and philosophy of language.
Introduction Christoph Limbeck-Lilienau and Thomas Uebel
Part 1: The Cultural, Scientific and Philosophical Context and the Development of Logical Empiricism
1. The Foundational Crisis of Modern Physics and its Cultural Significance Michael Stöltzner
2. The German Youth Movement at the Start of the 20th Century Hans-Joachim Dahms
3. Dilthey, Historicism and Logical Empiricism Christian Damböck
4. Varieties of Neo-Kantian Influences Matthias Neuber
5. Helmholtz and Logical Empiricism Michael Heidelberger
6. Mach and Early Logical Empiricism Elisabeth Nemeth
7. Bolzano, Brentano, and Logical Empiricism Mark Textor
8. French Conventionalism and the Vienna Circle Anastasios Brenner
9. Einstein and Logical Empiricism Fynn Ole Engler
10. The First Vienna Circle and the Erlangen Conference Christoph Limbeck-Lilienau
11. The Vienna Circle and the Verein Ernst Mach Friedrich Stadler
12. The Berlin Group and the Society for Empirical Philosophy Nikolay Milkov
13. Women in Logical Empiricism Frederique Janssen-Lauret
Part 2: Characteristic Theses of and Specific Issues in Logical Empiricism
14. Logic and the Foundations of Mathematics in Early Logical Empiricism Erich H. Reck
15. Conceptions of Truth in Early Logical Empiricism Pierre Wagner
16. Verificationism James Justus
17. Noncognitivism Anne Siegetsleitner
18. The Unity of Science Jordi Cat
19. The Deductive-Nomological Model of Explanation Stathis Psillos
20. The Partial Interpretation of Scientific Theories William Demopoulos
21. The Relative A Priori David J. Stump
22. Nonstandard Logicism Georg Schiemer
23. Probability in Logical Empiricism Marta Sznajder
24. Reichenbach and the Problem of Induction Flavia Padovani
25. Hempel and Confirmation Theory Jan Sprenger
26. Schlick, Carnap and Feigl on the Mind-Body Problem Sean Crawford
27. Carnap and Ontology Gregory Lavers
28. Neurath on Political Economy John O’Neill
Part 3: Relations to Philosophical Contemporaries
29. The Vienna Circle’s Relationship with Wittgenstein Johannes Friedl
30. Cassirer and the Logical Empiricists Matthias Neuber
31. Critical Rationalism, the Vienna Circle and the Empirical Basis Problem Artur Koterski
32. The Lvov-Warsaw School and Logical Empiricism Jan Wolenski
33. Logical Empiricism in Northern Europe Ilkka Niiniluoto
34. Logical Empiricism in the Anglophone World: Early Receptions Christopher Pincock
35. Pragmatism and Logical Empiricism Massimo Ferrari
Part 4: Leading Post-Positivist Criticisms and Legacy
36. Quine and Post-Positivism Richard Creath
37. Kuhn, Carnap and Logical Empiricism Gürol Irzik
38. The Bipartite Metatheory Conception Thomas Uebel
39. Logical Empiricism and Formal Epistemology Sahotra Sarkar
40. Carnap’s Conception of Reason A. W. Carus
41. Rethinking the Legacy of Logical Empiricism in North America Alan Richardson.
Index
Biography
Thomas Uebel is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of Manchester, UK. His books include Empiricism at the Crossroads: The Vienna Circle’s Protocol-Sentence Debate (2007) and an edition of Neurath’s Economic Writings (2004).
Christoph Limbeck-Lilienau is a Research Fellow at the University of Toronto, Canada, and principal investigator in the project Naturalizing Meaning (2021–24, FWF-grant J-4502-G). He is the author of Der Wiener Kreis (with F. Stadler, 2015) and editor of The Philosophy of Perception (2019).
