The Vienna Circle: The Origins of Neo-Positivism

By: Victor Kraft

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Synopsis: A member of the elite group who helped forge the logical positivism movement delves into the intellectual world of early-twentieth-century Vienna. Drawing together some of the greatest minds in Europe during the 1920s and 30s, the Vienna Circle had a profound influence on contemporary science and philosophy. Thinkers such as Moritz Schlick, Gustav Bergmann, and Karl Menger met regularly at the University of Vienna to discuss the philosophy of science, taking inspiration from such pioneering works as Ludwig Wittgenstein&’s Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus and Alfred North Whitehead and Bertrand Russell&’s Principia Mathematica. In this in-depth study, Vienna Circle member Victor Kraft explores this group&’s role in the development of modern thought. The Vienna Circle constituted a point of departure for the rebirth and reformation of positivism and empiricism, leading to the creation of the Neo-positivism movement. At the time of publication in the 1950s, the neopositivism movement stood in the foreground of contemporary philosophy, and it was quite possibly the most significant philosophical movement between the two world wars. Making Kraft&’s study of neopositivism available to a world audience, Arthur Pap provides a rich and accessible translation from the original German publication.