19th Century Austrian Philosophy

Austrian engineer, philosopher, and political economist Josef Popper-Lynkeus (1838–1921) was a renowned public intellectual of Viennese Late Enlightenment. In this article, we unearth and explore Popper-Lynkeus’s social program. It sought to implement social conscription to unconditionally guarantee a basic level of goods and services for every human individual. We appraise the economic and ethical justifications provided by Popper-Lynkeus for his allegedly “rational” proposals and the intended consequences for the discipline of economics. Finally, and based on our disambiguation of different notions (...) of “unconditionality”, we clarify similarities and differences between Popper-Lynkeus’s social program and contemporary proposals for a universal basic income, characterising both as alternatives to traditional welfare states. (shrink)

Textor’s The Disappearance of the Soul and the Turn Against Metaphysics examines the voluntarist background of Schlick’s epistemology, including his conception of knowledge as essentially involving judgements that relate at least two terms, and his connected objection against according intuition epistemic status. Textor interprets Schlick’s conception of intuition in light of Schopenhauer’s distinction between ordinary and extra-ordinary cognition. Thus Textor argues that Schlick takes intuition to be a form of ‘steady contemplation’ (Disappearance, 348) of an object that is ‘either a (...) universal or a particular’ (332). I suggest an alternative interpretation, according to which Schlick takes intuition to be an immersion into the contents of the stream of consciousness, which he claims to be a formless ‘Heraclitian flux’ (General Theory, 31, 156). This interpretation allows for a defence, against Textor’s objections, of Schlick’s thesis that the aim of knowledge is prediction. If the kind of flux given in pure intuition is genuinely ‘Heraclitian’ – that is to say, if the stream of consciousness is ever-changing and unrepeatable – then it is simply impossible for ‘the devotee of intuition’ (150) to predict its course. By contrast, the process of re-cognition that constitutes knowledge is intimately tied to prediction. (shrink)

This is the first book to trace the doctrine of the guise of the good throughout the history of Western philosophy. It offers a chronological narrative exploring how the doctrine was formulated, the arguments for and against it, and the broader role it played in the thought of different philosophers. -/- In recent years there has been a rich debate about whether value judgment or value perception must form an essential part of mental states such as emotions and desires, and (...) whether intentional actions must always be done for reasons that seem good to the agent. This has sparked new theoretical interest in the classical doctrine of the guise of the good: whenever we desire (to do) something, we see it under the guise of the good; that is, we conceive of what we desire as good, desirable, or justified by reasons, in some way or another. This book offers a systematic historical treatment of the guise of the good. The chapters span from Ancient and Medieval philosophy (Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas), through the early modern period (Hobbes, Spinoza, Locke, Hume, Kant) and up to Elizabeth Anscombe's rediscovery in the 20th century after a period of relative neglect. Together they demonstrate how history can offer potential new models of the guise of the good—or new arguments against it—as well as to give a sense of how the guise of the good can bear on other philosophical issues. -/- The Guise of the Good: A Philosophical History is an excellent resource for scholars and students working on the history of ethics, philosophy of action, and practical reason. -/- 1. Introduction 2. Socrates and Plato 3. Aristotle and the Stoics 4. The Canon in Christian Philosophy 5. The Canon Doubted and Reaffirmed (1300-1600) 6. Descartes and Spinoza: Revision and Rejection 7. Empiricism: The Guise of the Good between Desire and Pleasure 8. The Guise of the Good in Hume and Kant 9. After Kant, Before Anscombe 10. Epilogue. A Fresh Start. (shrink)

Carl Mengers Grundsätze der Volkswirthschaftslehre erscheinen 1871 und markieren die Geburtsstunde der Österreichischen Schule der Nationalökonomie. 150 Jahre später kennen mehr Menschen in mehr Ländern die Österreichische Schule als je zuvor. -/- Carl Menger, Ludwig Mises und Friedrich Hayek werden verteufelt oder wie Popstars verehrt. Ihre Köpfe zieren Poster und T-Shirts in aller Welt. -/- Die Wurzeln der heutigen Neo-Austrian School liegen aber in Wien, wo zwischen 1871 und 1934 Wissenschaft, Philosophie, Kunst und Kaffeehauskultur einander zu Höchstleistungen inspirieren. Von diesen (...) interdisziplinären und vielfältigen Wiener Ursprüngen und ihren globalen Folgen handelt dieses Buch. -/- Möge es als Fußnote zur glorreichen Wiener Spätaufklärung Wissen vermitteln, Ideen stiften, zum Nachdenken und tolerant-kritischen Diskutieren anregen – und hoffentlich auch ein wenig unterhalten! (shrink)

In recent academic and to some extent public debates, mainstream economics has been accused of excessive mathematization. The rejection of mathematical and other formal methods is often cited as a crucial trait of Austrian economics. Based on a systematic discussion of potential benefits and potential drawbacks of formalization in economics, the paper concludes that - contrary to the received view - the most prominent representatives of Austrian economists including Carl Menger, Ludwig Mises, and Friedrich August Hayek neither provide a justification (...) for a rejection of formalization tout court nor actually reject it. Those Neo- Austrians who do, seem to rely on an unconvincing Sprachgeist argument traceable to Friedrich Wieser. (shrink)

Dieses Buch präsentiert die seit Langem erwartete kritische Edition der zuvor unveröffentlichten Vorlesungsnotizen Kazimierz Twardowskis aus seiner Zeit an der Universität Wien. Bezüglich seines Umfangs und Themas sowie seiner Sprache ist dieser Text einzigartig im Œuvre Twardowskis. Bekannt vor allem für seine ebenso wichtige wie kurze Abhandlung Zur Lehre vom Inhalt und Gegenstand der Vorstellungen, entwickelt er im Logik-Manuskript seine Thesen viel detaillierter und in überarbeiteter Form. Die restlichen seiner Werke sind in polnischer Sprache verfasst und damit für viele Leser (...) nur schwer zugänglich. Diese Edition ist von großem Interesse für alle Philosophen, die zur Wiener Wissenschaftsphilosophie vor dem Wiener Kreis forschen, für alle, die sich für die frühe Phänomenologie und Husserls Denken interessieren, und besonders für Spezialisten der österreichischen Philosophie und der kontinentalen Tradition analytischer Philosophie, für die dieser Text eine unverzichtbare Quelle darstellt. (shrink)

A. J. Ayer’s Language, Truth, and Logic had been responsible for introducing the Vienna Circle’s ideas, developed within a Germanophone framework, to an Anglophone readership. Inevitably, this migration from one context to another resulted in the alteration of some of the concepts being transmitted. Such alterations have served to facilitate a number of false impressions of Logical Empiricism from which recent scholarship still tries to recover. In this paper, I will attempt to point to the ways in which LTL has (...) helped to foster the various mistaken stereotypes about Logical Empiricism which were combined into the received view. I will begin by examining Ayer’s all too brief presentation of an Anglocentric lineage for his ideas. This lineage, as we shall see, simply omits the major 19th century Germanophone influences on the rise of analytic philosophy. The Germanophone ideas he presents are selectively introduced into an Anglophone context, and directed towards various concerns that arose within that context. I will focus on the differences between Carnap’s version of the overcoming of metaphysics, and Ayer’s reconfiguration into what he calls the elimination of metaphysics. Having discussed the above, I will very briefly outline the consequences that Ayer’s radicalisation of the Vienna Circle’s doctrines had on the subsequent Anglophone reception of Logical Empiricism. (shrink)

I review Stefan Roski's "Bolzano's Conception of Grounding".

This paper takes the form of a series of sketches of 19th century Austrian political and intellectual history, allied with a number of more general reflections designed to contribute to our understanding of some of the peculiar characteristics of Austrian thought, particularly Austrian philosophy and economics, in the period in question.

Edmund Husserl hat einmal die Wissenschaftslehre ein Werk genannt, „das in Sachen der logischen ‚Elementarlehre‘ alles weit zurückläßt, was die Weltliteratur an systematischen Entwürfen der Logik darbietet“. In der Tat nimmt das vierbändige, 1837 veröffentlichte Werk zahlreiche Entwicklungen und Ansätze der späteren Phänomenologie und analytischen Philosophie vorweg. – Die Auswahlausgabe beschränkt sich aus Umfangsgründen auf die Fundamentallehre (Teil I) und die Elementarlehre (Teil II) und damit auf die Teile des Werks, die Bolzano selbst für die wichtigsten gehalten hat.

This essay examines the role of non-existent objects in "epistemological ontology" — the study of the entities that make thinking possible. An earlier revision of Meinong's Theory of Objects is reviewed, Meinong's notions of Quasisein and Außersein are discussed, and a theory of Meinongian objects as "combinatorially possible" entities is presented.

À partir d'une lecture comparée de certains extraits de l'Einleitung zur Grössenlehre et de la Wissenschaftslehre, cet article se propose de reformuler l'ensemble de la réflexion bolzanienne sur le rapport entre objets effectifs et idéaux par le biais de la notion de « Veränderung » (§ 1). Plutôt que d'envisager la variation bolzanienne depuis la théorie des fonctions, elle doit être abordée d'abord par une réflexion sur le rapport entre variation et signe (§ 2), puis entre substitution et mise en (...) série de représentations, et enfin comme corrélat d'un acte de visée de multiplicités (§ 3). Une telle reformulation impliquera la prise en compte d'une notion de devenir propre aux objets idéaux. This paper sketches out the main themes of Bolzano's thought about real and ideal objects through a systematic account of his notion of « Veränderung », as it stands out from some paragraphs of both the Einleitung zur Grössenlehre and the Wissenschaftslehre (§ 1). Rather than through reference to the functions theory, we shall approach the variation first through a previous analysis of the relationship between variation and sign (§ 2), then between substitution and serialisation of a presentation, and finally as a correlate of a multiplicity meaning act (§ 3). Such an account will point out the notion of becoming which is proper to ideal objects. (shrink)

As Kevin Mulligan, more than anyone else, has demonstrated, there is a distinction within the philosophy of the German-speaking world between two principal currents: of idealism / transcendentalism, characteristic of Northern Germany; and of realism / objectivism, characteristic of Austria and the South. We explore some of the implications of this distinction with reference to the influence of Austrian (and German) philosophy on philosophical developments in Hungary, focusing on the work of Ákos von Pauler, and especially on Pauler’s reading of (...) Wittgenstein’s Tractatus. (shrink)

The European Legacy, Volume 17, Issue 4, Page 549-550, July 2012.

This is a presentation of Bolzano's ideas on logic, logical semantics, ontology, proof theory, the foundations of mathematics, and certain aspects of the philosophy of nature. Bolzano's world view was a universal one in the sense that philosophy, mathematics, physics, and metaphysics should build upon the same logical foundation. In the pursuit of this encyclopaedic point of view he already recognized many of the essential things to come in logic and the foundations of mathematics.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and (...) made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant. (shrink)