Selected Philosophical Essays

This book offers a fresh perspective on Hempel's intellectual development and on the rise and demise of logical empiricism.

Carl G. Hempel (Author), Richard Jeffrey (Edited by)

9780521624480, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 13 January 2000

330 pages, 1 b/w illus.
23.8 x 15.6 x 2.4 cm, 0.565 kg

Carl Gustav Hempel (1905–97) was one of the preeminent figures in the philosophical movement of logical empiricism. He was a member of both the Berlin and Vienna circles, fled Germany in 1934 and finally settled in the US where he taught for many years in New York, Princeton, and Pittsburgh. The essays in this collection come from the early and late periods of Hempel's career and chart his intellectual odyssey from a rigorous commitment to logical positivism in the 1930s (when Hempel allied himself closely with Carnap) to a more sociological approach close in spirit to the work of Neurath and Kuhn. The collection brings together essays which have up till now been difficult to find, four of which are appearing in English for the first time. Cumulatively they offer a fresh perspective on Hempel's intellectual development and on the rise and demise of logical empiricism.

Preface
Introduction
Part I. Truth: 1. On the logical positivists' theory of truth
2. Some remarks on 'facts' and propositions
3. Some remarks on empiricism
4. The problem of truth
5. The irrelevance of the concept of truth for the critical appraisal of scientific claims
Part II. Probability: 6. On the content of probability statements
7. On the logical form of probability statements
8. A definition of degree of confirmation (with P. Oppenheim)
Part III. Methodology: 9. The logical analysis of psychology
10. Schick and Neurath: foundation vs. coherence
11. On the cognitive status and the rationale of scientific methodology
12. Provisoes
Part IV. Memoirs: 13. Rudolf Carnap, Logical Empiricist
14. The Vienna Circle and the metamorphoses of its empiricism
15. Hans Reichenbach remembered
16. Empiricism in the Vienna Circle and in the Berlin Society
Part V. Publications of C. G. Hempel.

Subject Areas: History of science [PDX], Philosophy of science [PDA], Mathematics & science [P], History of ideas [JFCX]