Education, enlightenment and positivism: The Vienna Circle's scientific world-conception revisited

Science and Education

Volumn 13, Issue 1-2, 2004, Pages 41-66

  Uebel, Thomas E ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER   (United Kingdom)

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 29544444433     PISSN: 09267220     EISSN: 15731901     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1023/b:sced.0000018469.45137.30     Document Type: Article

References (103)

1. O. Neurath, 'Protocol Statements', orig. 1932, trans, in O. Neurath, Philosophical Papers 1913-1946, ed. and trans. by R.S. Cohen and M. Neurath, Dordrecht: Kluwer, 1983, p. 93, trans. altered.
2. R. Carnap, H. Hahn, O. Neurath, The Scientific World Conception: The Vienna Circle, orig. 1929-hereafter 'CHN'-trans. in Otto Neurath, Empiricism and Sociology, ed. and trans, by M. Neurath and R.S. Cohen, Dordrecht: Kluwer, 1973, p. 318, emphasis in original. (Unless otherwise noted, all emphases in quotations are in the original.)
3. R. Carnap, Rudolf, The Logical Structure of the World, orig. 1928, transl. by R.A. George, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967, § 183.
4. Note M. Horkheimer's ill-considered insinuation that the Vienna Circle became an unwitting helpmate of fascism ('The Latest Attack on Metaphysics', orig. 1937, transl. by M.J. O'Connell in Horkheimer, Critical Theory, New York: Seabury Press, 1972).
5. This is not to say, of course, that the logical empiricism's other point of origin in the Berlin Society for Scientific Philosophy around Hans Reichenbach was oriented very differently. Thus note not only Reichenbach's early socio-political writings, especially 'Socializing the University', orig. 1918, in Part 1 of his Selected Writings 1909-1953, Vol. 1, ed. by M. Reichenbach and R. S. Cohen, Dordrecht: Reidel, but also note this affirmation of intent from his UCLA days. After a student had reported that him to be 'exclusively concerned with logic and epistemology, not with social reform' he responded: 'But no! That is not true. The whole movement of scientific philosophy is a crusade. Is it not clear that only by ending the dogmatism of irresponsible claims to know moral truth, that only by clarity and integrity in epistemology, people can attain tolerance and get along with one another?'
6. (Selected Writings 1909-1953, Ibid., pp. 56-57)
7. John Dewey, 'Unity of Science as Social Problem', in Neurath et al 1938, Encyclopedia and Unified Science, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1938, p. 32,
8. Theory of Valuation, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1939, p. 65.
9. Ernest Nagel in C. Lamont, ed., Dialogue on John Dewey, New York: Horizon, 1959, pp. 10-13.
10. For an overview of the entire Vienna Circle from the emerging new perspective, see F. Stadler, Studies on the Vienna Circle, Vienna: Springer, 2001 (orig. 1997), with a rich bibliography.
11. An argument against the epistemologically foundationalist reading of the Circle is given in T.E. Uebel, 'Anti-Foundationalism and the Vienna Circle's Revolution in Philosophy', British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 47 (1996).
12. CHN, p. 316, emphases dropped.
13. CHN, Ibid., p. 317.
14. M. Schlick, Problems of Ethics, orig. 1930, trans. D. Rynin, New York: Prentice-Hall, 1939;
15. O. Neurath, 'Sociology in the Framework of Physicalism', orig. 1932, transl. in Neurath, Philosophical Papers [note 1];
16. R. Carnap, 'Theoretische Fragen und praktische Entscheidungen', orig. 1934, repr. in Logischer Empirismus - der Wiener Kreis, ed. by H. Schleichert, Munich: Fink, 1975.
17. A detailed reconstruction of the protocol sentence debate is given in T.E. Uebel, Overcoming Logical Positivism From Within, Amsterdam/Atlanta, Ga.: Rodopi, 1992.
18. On Red Vienna see, e.g., A. Rabinbach, The Crisis of Austrian Socialism: From Red Vienna to the Civil War (1927-34), Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1983;
19. H. Gruber, Red Vienna: Experiment in Working-Class Culture 1919-1934, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991.
20. See the bio-bibliographical entries in Stadler, Studies [note 7], for listings of the courses and lectures.
21. Quotations from O. Neurath, Gesammelte bildpädagogische Schriften, ed. by R. Haller and R. Kinross, Vienna: Hölder-Pichler-Tempsky, 1991, pp. 18, 251, respectively.
22. On Neurath's educational work in general, see R. Haller, 'On Otto Neurath', orig. 1977,
23. J. Dvorak, 'Otto Neurath and Adult Education',
24. R Stadler, 'Otto Neurath: Encyclopedist, School Reformer and People's Education', orig. 1989, trans. in Rediscovering the Forgotten Vienna Circle, ed. by T.E. Uebel, Dordrecht: Kluwer, 1991,
25. L. Fleck in Part 1, orig. 1979, of N. Cartwright, J. Cat, L. Fleck, T.E. Uebel, Otto Neurath: Philosophy between Science and Politics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
26. For a systematic discussions of Neurath's Vienna Method/ISOTYPE, see R. Kinross, 'The Work of Otto Neurath in Visual Communication', in J. Sebestik and A. Soulez, ed., Journées Internationales sur le Cercle Vienne, Fundamenta Scientae 5 (1984) nos. 2-4,
27. K.H. Müller, 'Neurath's Theory of Pictorial-Statistical Representation', in Rediscovering . . . Comparisons of Neurath's method with current practice are drawn by several contributors in E. Nemeth and F. Stadler, eds., Encyclopedia and Utopia. The Work of Otto Neurath, Dordrecht: Kluwer, 1996.
28. For representative reproductions of the work of the museum as well as Neurath's later and Arntz's own work, see F. Stadler, ed., Arbeiterbildung in der Zwischenkriegszeit. Otto Neurath, Gerd Arntz, Vienna: Locker, 1982.
29. O. Neurath, 'Jungfrontaktion und Bildungsarbeit (Aus einem Referat für Jungfrontfuntionäe)', Bildungsarbeit 19 (1932), pp. 165-166.
30. See F. Stadler, 'Aspects of the Social Background and Position of the Vienna Circle at the University of Vienna', orig. 1979, transl. in Rediscovering . . . [note 14].
31. CHN, pp. 317-318.
32. On Mach's own educational concerns and ideas see Michael R. Matthews, 'Ernst Mach and Contemporary Science Education Reforms', in Matthews, ed., History, Philosophy and Science Teaching: Selected Readings, New York: Teachers College Press, 1991.
33. Michael R. Matthews, History, Philosophy and Science Teaching: Selected Readings, Ibid., p. 301.
34. See Stadler [note 16].
35. G. Bergmann, 'Memories of the Vienna Circle. Letter to Otto Neurath (1938)', in Scientific Philosophy: Origins and Developments, ed. by F. Stadler, Dordrecht: Kluwer, 1993, pp. 198-199.
36. CHN, pp. 305-306.
37. R. Carnap, 'Remarks by the Author (1957)' on 'The Elimination of Metaphysics through Logical Analysis of Language', orig. 1932, trans. by A. Pap in Logical Positivism, ed. by A.J. Ayer, New York: Free Press, 1959, p. 80.
38. M. Schlick, 'Positivism and Realism', orig. 1932, transl. by D. Rynin in Logical Postivism, [note 23].
39. O. Neurath, Empirical Sociology, orig. 1931 partly transl. 'Empirical Sociology', in Neurath, Empiricism and Sociology [note 2].
40. C.G. Hempel, 'Empiricist Criteria of Cognitive Significance: Problems and Changes', in Hempel, Aspects of Scientific Explanation, New York: Free Press, 1965.
41. O. Neurath, 'Sociology' [note 9], p. 89.
42. T. Ricketts, 'Carnap's Principle of Tolerance, Empiricism and Conventionalism', in Reading Putnam, ed. by P. Clark, Oxford: Blackwell.
43. A. Richardson, 'The Limits of Tolerance: Carnap's Logico-Philosophical Project in Logical Syntax of Language', in Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Supplementary Volume 1994.
44. CHN, p. 316.
45. See Part 3 by N. Cartwright and J. Cat in Cartwright, Cat, Fleck, Uebel, Otto Neurath [note 14].
46. O. Neurath, 'Protocol Statements' [note 1], p. 92;
47. for the history of Neurath's use of the simile, see Part 2 by T.E. Uebel in Otto Neurath [note 14].
48. CHN, p. 307.
49. R. Carnap, 'Elimination' [note 23], pp. 79-80.
50. R. Carnap, Aufbau [note 3], § 183.
51. F. Waismann, 'Ethik und Wissenschaft', orig. 1938,
52. quoted in H. Rutte, 'Ethics and the Problem of Value in the Vienna Circle', orig. 1986, transl. in Rediscovering [note 14], p. 156.
53. In their private voice Schlick and Neurath were not loath to write on issues of the conduct of life, Schlick's artistic-aristocratic attitude being apolitically individualistic ('On the Meaning of Life', orig. 1927, trans. by P. Heath in Schlick, Philosophical Papers vol. 2, ed. by H.L. Mulder and B. v.d. Velde-Schlick, Dordrecht: Kluwer, 1979),
54. while Neurath's more populist stance stressed collective action (Personal Life and Class Struggle, orig. 1928, excerpt trans. in Empiricism and Sociology [note 2]).
55. R. Carnap, 'Theoretische Fragen' [note 9]; compare also the opening quotation from Neurath in this paper.
56. CHN, p. 305.
57. CHN, Ibid., pp. 304-305.
58. CHN, Ibid., p. 304.
59. O. Bauer, 'Das Weltbild des Kapitalismus', in Der lebendige Marxismus. Festgabe zum 70. Geburtstag von Karl Kautsky, ed. by O. Jenssen, Jena: Thüringer Verlagsanstalt, 1924, p. 464.
60. O. Neurath, 'Sozialistischer Ausweg aus der Krise (Vortragsdisposition)', Bildungsarbeit 20 (1933), p. 196.
61. O. Neurath, Le developpement du Cercle de Vienne et l'avenir de l'Empiricisme logique, orig. 1936,
62. transl. by B. Treschmitzer & H.G. Zilian, 'Die Entwicklung des Wiener Kreises und die Zukunft des Logischen Empirismus', in Neurath, Gesammelte philosophische und methodologische Schriften, ed. By R. Haller and H. Rutte, Vienna: Hölder-Pichler-Tempsky, 1981, p. 699.
63. On the theme of cognitive transparency compare P. Galison, 'Aufbau/Bauhaus: Logical Positivism and Architectural Modernism', Critical Inquiry 16 (1990), who develops it against the background of a more foundationalist interpretation of the Circle.
64. The notable exception is D. Zolo, Reflexive Epistemology. The Philosophical Legacy of Otto Neurath, Dordrecht: Kluwer, 1989. The present study confirms the thesis that the issue of reflexivity plays a central role in Neurath's thought, but unlike Zolo seeks to locate Neurath still this side of the post-modernist divide.
65. Cf. T.E. Uebel, 'Normativity and Convention. On the Constructivist Element of Neurath's Naturalism', in Encyclopedia and Utopia, ed. by E. Nemeth and F. Stadler, Dordrecht: Kluwer, 1996.
66. R. Haller, 'The First Vienna Circle', orig. 1985, transl. in Rediscovering [note 14];
67. P. Frank, 'Historical Introduction', in Modern Science and its Philosophy, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1949.
68. P. Frank, 'The Importance for our Times of Ernst Mach's Philosophy of Science', orig. 1917, trans. in Modern Science [note 46], pp. 73, 78, 73 and 75 respectively.
69. M. Horkheimer and T. Adorno, Dialectic of Enlightenment, orig. 1947, trans. J. Cumming, New York: Herder and Herder, 1972.
70. P. Frank, 'Importance' [ note 49], p. 74.
71. O. Neurath, 'The Lost Wanderers and the Auxiliary Motive (On the Psychology of Decision)', orig. 1913, trans. in Neurath, Philosophical Papers [note 1], p. 8.
72. O. Neurath, Philosophical Papers Ibid., p. 8.
73. O. Neurath, Philosophical Papers Ibid., p. 10.
74. O. Neurath, 'Eine soziale Niederlassung (Settlement) in Wien', Der Arbeiterfreund 41 (1903), p. 239.
75. O. Neurath, Die allgemeine Einführung des volkswirtschaftlichen und staatsbürgerlichen Unterrichts, orig. 1908, repr. in Neurath, Gesammelte ökonomische, soziologische und sozialpolitische Schriften (I), ed. by R. Haller and U. Höfer, Vienna: Hölder-Pichler-Tempsky, 1998, p. 120.
76. O. Neurath and W. Schumann, 'Zur Einführung', Wirtschaft und Lebensordung 1 (1919), p. 1.
77. O. Neurath, Anti-Spengler, orig. 1921, excerpts trans. in Neurath, Empiricism and Sociology [note 2], p. 162.
78. P. Frank, 'Importance' [note 49], p. 72.
79. H. Feigl, 'Naturalism and Humanism', orig. 1949,
80. "Ethics, Religion and Scientific Humanism", orig. 1969, both repr. in Feigl, Inquiries and Povocations, ed. by R.S. Cohen, Dordrecht: Reidel, 1981,
81. 'Aims of Education for our Age of Science: Reflections of a Logical Empiricist', orig. 1955, repr. in this issue of Science & Education, pp. 121-149.
82. O. Neurath, 'Nationalökonomie und Wertlehre, systematische Untersuchung', orig. 1911, repr. In Neurath, Gesammelte ökonomische, soziologische und sozialpolitische Schriften [note 56], p. 517.
83. O. Neurath, 'Universal Jargon and Terminology', orig. 1941, repr. in Neurath, Philosophical Papers [note 1], p. 216.
84. O. Neurath, Foundations of the Social Sciences, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1944, pp. 46-47.
85. O. Neurath, 'After Six Years', Synthese 5 (1946), p. 79.
86. O. Neurath, 'After Six Years', Synthese 5 (1946), p. 79. Ibid.
87. P. Frank, ed., The Validation of Scientific Theories, Boston: Beacon Press, 1956
88. 'Science Teaching and the Humanities', orig. 1946,
89. 'The Place of the Philosophy of Science in the Curriculum of the Physics Student', orig., 1947, in Modern Science [note 48]. (The latter article is reproduced in this journal issue.)
90. P. Frank, Relativity - A Richer Truth, London: Cape, 1951.
91. The main opposition is explicitly identified only in 'Science Teaching', p. 271 [note 66].
92. E. Nagel, 'Malicious Philosophies of Science', orig. 1943, repr. in Nagel, Sovereign Reason, New York: Free Press, 1954, p. 32.
93. More recently, Maritain has been noted to give 'an example of the Catholic use of Aristotle to ground a sectarian metaphysical idea of the good'; see M. Nussbaum, 'Aristotelian Social Democracy', in R.B. Douglass, G.M. Mora, H.S. Richards, eds., Liberalism and the Good, London/New York: Routledge, 1990, p. 246.
94. P. Frank, 'The Place', p. 230,
95. 'Science Teaching', p. 261 [note 66].
96. 'Science Teaching', Ibid., pp. 234 and 248.
97. P. Frank, Relativity, pp. 102 and 106 [note 67].
98. See also P. Frank, Philosophy of Science: The Link between Science and Philosophy, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1957.
99. 'Naturalism and Humanism' was also reprinted as 'The Scientific Outlook: Naturalism and Humanism', the opening chapter in H. Feigl and M. Brodbeck, eds., Readings in the Philosophy of Science, New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1953.
100. The quotations are from Inquiries, pp. 368 and 370-371 [note 60].
101. H. Feigl, 'Ethics, Religion', pp. 408 and 420 [note 60].
102. P. Frank, 'The Place', p. 258 [note 66].
103. An earlier version of this essay was published as 'Enlightenment and the Vienna Circle's Scientific World Conception', in Amélie Oksenberg Rorty, Philosophers on Education. Historical Perspectives, London/New York: Routledge, 1998. Here I wish to thank Michael R. Mattews for the invitation to contribute an enlarged version for the present issue of Science & Education.