Friedrich Waismann - Causality and Logical Positivism

by Mcguinness, B. F.

• ISBN13: 9789400717503
• ISBN10: 9400717504
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-06-14
• Publisher: Springer Verlag

Summary

Friedrich Waismann (1896'¬ ;1959) was one of the most gifted students and collaborators of Moritz Schlick. Accepted as a discussion partner by Wittgenstein from 1927 on, he functioned as spokesman for the latter'¬"s ideas in the Schlick Circle, until Wittgenstein'¬"s contact with this most faithful interpreter was broken off in 1935 and not renewed when exile took Waismann to Cambridge. Nonetheless, at Oxford, where he went in 1939, and eventually became Reader in Philosophy of Mathematics (changing later to Philosophy of Science), Waismann made important and independent contributions to analytic philosophy and philosophy of science (for example in relation to probability, causality and linguistic analysis). The full extent of these only became evident later when the larger (unpublished) part of his writings could be studied. His first posthumous work The Principles of Linguistic Philosophy (1965, 2nd edn.1997; German 1976) and his earlier Einführung in das mathematische Denken (1936) have recently proved of fresh interest to the scientific community. This late flowering and new understanding of Waismann'¬"s position is connected with the fact that he somewhat unfairly fell under the shadow of Wittgenstein, his mentor and predecessor. Central to this book about a life and work familiar to few is unpublished and unknown works on causality and probability. These are commented on in this volume, which will also include a publication of new or previously scattered material and an overview of Waismann'¬"s life.

Table of Contents

Editorial	p. 7
Friedrich Waismann - Causality and Logical Positivism
Waismann: the Wandering Scholar	p. 9
Tributes to and Impressions of Friedrich Waismann	p. 17
Waismann's Lectures on Causality: An Introduction	p. 31
The Decline and Fall of Causality	p. 53
Causality	p. 91
The Logical Force of Expressions	p. 185
A Philosopher Looks at Kafka	p. 197
Waismann Versus Ewing on Causality	p. 207
Waismann as Spokesman for Wittgenstein	p. 225
Waismann's Testimony of Wittgenstein's Fresh Starts in 1931-35	p. 243
General Part
Report/Documentation
Otto Neurath's 'Encyclopedia of the World War': A Contextualisation	p. 267
Review Essays
One Hundred Years of Philosophy of Science: The View from Munich	p. 297
Two Recent Trilogies on Ernst Mach	p. 311
Logical Syntax and the Application of Mathematics	p. 323
Reviews
Une histoire compareée de la philosophie des sciences, Volume I: Aux sources du Cercle de Vienne, Volume II: L'empirisme logique en débat, Les Presses de l'université Laval, Québec (Canada) 2010	p. 337
2002, Wienin piiri, Helsinki: Gaudeamus	p. 338
Empiricism at the Crossroads. The Vienna Circle's Protocol-Sentence Debate. Open Court, Chicago, III. 2007	p. 342
The Cambridge Companion to Carnap, edited by Michael Friedman and Richard Creath, Cambridge University Press, 2007	p. 346
Obituary: Stephen Toulmin (1922-2009)	p. 351
Activities of the Vienna Circle Institute	p. 359
Index of Names	p. 365
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