Wiener Kreis#

Vienna Circle (Vienna School, Wiener Kreis), group of neo-positivist philosophers including M. Schlick, F. Waismann, R. Carnap, O. Neurath, V. Kraft, K. Menger, K. Goedel, H. Hahn, E. Zilsel in Vienna 1922-1938, at times closely related to L. Wittgenstein. The Vienna Circle came forward with the programmatic writing "The Scientific World View. The Vienna Circle" ("Wissenschaftliche Weltauffassung. Der Wiener Kreis"), published in 1929 (ed. by Hahn, Neurath und Carnap). The goal of the philosophy of the Vienna Circle was - following the research of E. Mach - the union of empiricism and logic whilst rejecting metaphysics. The effort to translate all scientific statements into a comprehensive formal language (e.g. into the language of mathematics or physics) in order to depict the objects of philosophy (the theorems, concepts and theories of science) was fundamental to the Vienna Circle; very soon the Vienna Circle was internationally recognised, but its work was interrupted by Austro-Fascism and National Socialism. The renowned representatives of the Vienna Circle emigrated to Anglo-Saxon countries, where they continued to disseminate their ideas and considerably influenced the development of the philosophy of science even after 1945. The magazine "Erkenntnis" (from 1937 "Journal of Unified Science") and the series of publications "Schriften zur wissenschaftlichen Weltauffassung" and "Einheitswissenschaft" were the organs of the Vienna Circle; the "International Encyclopedia of Unified Science" was published in exile. In 1991, an Institute "Vienna Circle" was founded in Vienna, focusing on the documentation, research and the further development of the philosophy of the Vienna Circle.

Literature#