Alfred Tarski and the Vienna Circle: Austro-Polish Connections in Logical Empiricism

by Jan Woleński (Editor), Eckehart Köhler

The larger part of Yearbook 6 of the Institute Vienna Circle constitutes the proceedings of a symposium on Alfred Tarski and his influence on and interchanges with the Vienna Circle, especially those on and with Rudolf Carnap and Kurt G del. It is the first time that this topic has been treated on such a scale and in such depth. Attention is mainly paid to the origins, development and subsequent role of Tarski's definition of truth. Some contributions are primarily historical, others analyze logical aspects of the concept of truth. Contributors include Anita and Saul Feferman, Jan Wolenski, Jan Tarski and Hans Sluga. Several Polish logicians contributed: Gzegorczyk, W jcicki, Murawski and Rojszczak. The volume presents entirely new biographical material on Tarski, both from his Polish period and on his influential career in the United States: at Harvard, in Princeton, at Hunter, and at the University of California at Berkeley. The high point of the analysis involves Tarski's influence on Carnap's evolution from a narrow syntactical view of language, to the ontologically more sophisticated but more controversial semantical view. Another highlight involves the interchange between Tarski and G del on the connection between truth and proof and on the nature of metalanguages. The concluding part of Yearbook 6 includes documentation, book reviews and a summary of current activities of the Institute Vienna Circle. Jan Tarski introduces letters written by his father to G del; Paolo Parrini reports on the Vienna Circle's influence in Italy; several reviews cover recent books on logical empiricism, on G del, on cosmology, on holistic approaches in Germany, and on Mauthner.

Genres: Logic

357 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1998

Reviews

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finishing this book on a transatlantic flight is certainly one of the best ways to get an impression of the difference between the world Rudolf Carnap and Kurt Gödel lived in during their informal leadership of the Vienne Circle and the world we live in today. The members of the Vienna Circle were some of the greatest philosophers and scientists of their time and what a time they lived in: the advent of pure science lead by logic and experimentation was bringing about vast new discoveries but some fields such as medicine still used outmoded clinical techniques. The Vienna Cirlce were most concerned with the establishment of not only clear, well-guided scientific praxis but also the comprehensive integration of empirical science into the realm of philosophical thought.

We now live in a society that is much more based around high technology than the Vienna Circle did, however, we also seem to live in a society where there's less thought given even by professional scientists to the philosophy of science. This book, well-presented and written in clear prose, may help the interested reader change that—especially if the reader is him or herself engaged in the sciences.