Reviews

Thomas Mormann

Maria C. Galavotti

Ulrich Majer

Torsten Wilholt

Johannes L. Brandl

Hans-Joachim Dahms

pp. 329-360

in: John von Neumann and the foundations of quantum physics, Berlin, Springer, 2001

Abstract

This volume is a collection of essays Michael Friedman published over a period of fifteen years together with two postscripts in which he explains some important changes in his views in the interim. The title of the book is somewhat misleading, since it does not deal with the whole spectrum of Logical Positivism, not even with the philosophy of the Vienna Circle in its full breadth. Rather, the protagonist of Reconsidering Logical Positivism (RLP henceforth) is Carnap, and, to a lesser extent, Schlick and Reichenbach. The radical empiricists's faction of the Vienna Circle, in particular, Neurath, Frank, and Hahn is not treated at all. On the other hand, Friedman takes into account quite a few figures that usually do not appear in the more standard treatises on Logical Positivism, e.g. neoKantians such as Rickert, Natorp and Cassirer, and conventionalists such as Poincaré, Weyl and others.

Cited authors

Kant Immanuel

Cassirer Ernst

Friedman Michael