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10 - Ernst Mach and the Vienna Circle

A Re-evaluation of the Reception and Influence of His Work

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 March 2021

By
Friedrich Stadler
Edited by
John Preston
John Preston
Affiliation:
University of Reading
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Summary

There is a familiar narrative of the development from Ernst Mach’s 'positivism' to the more sophisticated 'neo-positivism' of the Vienna Circle, with language analysis and formal logic as additional ingredients. But we also see an alternative historiography telling of the rise and decline of scientific philosophy and the genetic theory of learning from Mach to the Vienna Circle. Recent research on Mach uncovers a more complex and multifaceted influence and pluralist reception of his work within the Vienna Circle based on a general appreciation of his empiricism and his idea of the unity of science. This chapter reconstructs the complex and diverse reception of Mach by main members of the Vienna Circle, showing the inherent pluralism based on the common anti-Kantian and 'late Enlightenment' consensus between empiricism and pragmatism, with Mach figuring as a critic of 'school philosophy' and a pioneer of contemporary history and philosophy of science. The thesis of a strong positive reception and further development and extension (regarding language and logic) of Mach’s doctrines with a critical distance vis-à-vis academic metaphysical philosophy is demonstrated as a manifestation of Mach’s function as a role model and predecessor of Viennese Logical Empiricism from the 'First Vienna Circle' to the heyday of the Schlick Circle.

Keywords

Ernst MachVienna CircleScientific philosophyReceptionEmpiricismPragmatism
Type
Chapter
Information
Interpreting Mach
Critical Essays
 , pp. 184 - 207
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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