Vienna Circle Centenary

2024-25 marks the centenary of the Vienna Circle, when Moritz Schlick launched his informal discussion group in the Mathematical Library of the University of Vieanna.  Motivated by his students, Herbert Feigl and Friedrich Waismann, to gather some of their friends and colleagues who shared their admiration for logic, mathematics, the natural sciences, and a new scientific approach to philosophy, Schlick led countless discussions between 1924 and his unforeseen death in 1936.  Rest is history.

On December 9-10, the MTA Lendület Values and Science Research Groups organizes a thematic conference on this occasion, focusing on the politics and value-related questions within logical positivism. Speakers were asked to deliver talks about the political and value-laden dimension of knowledge, science, and social-engagement within the Vienna Circle. 

The other occasion of the talk is provided by Prof. Sahotra Sarkar's new book, The Vienna Circle: The Story of Logical Empiricism, that provides an engaging and approachable introduction to the philosophy of the Vienna Circle against the background its socio-cultural milieau, and will be published officially during the conference.

The conference will be streamed online via ZOOM. 

December 9.

9:15 opening

9:30-10:30. Joseph Bentley: TBA

coffee 10:30-11:00

11:00-12:00: Alexander Linsbichler: Thoughts on liberal democracy in Viennese Late Enlightenment: Neurath, Mises, Kelsen

LUNCH 12:00-13:30 

13:30-14:30. Roberto Gronda: The Language of Values: Abraham Kaplan's Contribution to the Encyclopediaof Unified Science

coffee 14:30-15:00

15:00-16:00. Flavia Padovani: TBA

coffee 16:00-16:30

16:30-17:30. Sahotra Sarkar: The politics of semantics, or, how Carnap flirted with complete irrelevance

Dinner

December 10.

9:15 opening

9:30-10:30. Christoph Schuringa: Attempt at a Collaboration: the Frankfurt School and the Vienna Circle

coffee 10:30-11:00

11:00-12:00. Silke Körber: ‘Science for a better life’: The Role of the Expert in Neurath and Stebbing

LUNCH 12:00-13:30 

13:30-14:30. Adam Tamas Tuboly: Philipp Frank in the science policy matrix of Malisoff, Churchmann, and the logical positivists

coffee 14:30-15:00

15:00-16:00. Christian Damböck: Noncognitivism, relativism, and science. A rejoinder to Thomas Uebel

coffee 16:00-16:30

16:30-17:30. Thomas Uebel: Non-Cognitivism and (Some of) its Vicissitude

Dinner