Friedrich Stadler, Leslie Topp, Chair: William Johnston

Workshop VIENNA 1900: CURRENT DISCOURSES ON FIN-DE-SIECLE VIENNA International Center, University of New Orleans (UNO), October 24-25, 2016 SLIDE 1 Roundtable IV: Interdisciplinary Models Friedrich Stadler, Leslie Topp, Chair: William Johnston

Friedrich Stadler (University of Vienna): “The Sciences and Humanities as Culture”

SLIDE 2 INTRODUCTION Based on William Johnston’s path breaking trilogy of books on Austrian-Hungarian intellectual history I will focus mainly on the role of philosophy, the sciences and humanities from a trans- and interdisciplinary point of view. (Of course, the publications of Carl Schorske, Allan Janik/Stephen Toulmin, Edward Timms, David Luft, and Steven Beller and many others are to be mentioned as essential background knowledge).

SLIDES 3-4: Constructive Unrest. Austrian Conference on Contemporary History Graz 2016 According to the new model of the “Long 20th Century” in Austrian history (from Habsburg Monarchy to the Republic) in general, and as applied to the history of the University of Vienna, specifically, I make a plea for this conception more or less also regarding Vienna 1900 / Fin-de-Siécle Vienna. This can be illustrated by a short report on a panel dealing with the “Paradigmenwechsel zum langen 20. Jahrhundert” (paradigm shift on the long 20th century) at the last “Österreichischer Zeitgeschichtetag” (ÖZT) in Graz, June 2016.

SLIDE 5: “Wissenschaft als Kultur” (Frankfurt 1995) Following this perspective, I will argue for the need to cover all sciences (including humanities) under the umbrella of (Austro-Hungarian) culture, which seems to me the main deficit in the related historiography. Instead, the image of all sciences as an essential part of culture (Wissenschaft als Kultur) is leading up to transgressing disciplinary boundaries. (cf. Arnold Keyserling, Der Wiener Denkstil. Mach-Carnap-Wittgenstein (1965)) Therefore, it is desirable to specify the role and function of science and research in Austrian intellectual history, as well as in contemporary history in general from the 19th to the 20th centuries. In this regard the marginalization of the history and philosophy of science can be overcome by introducing thematic patterns of intellectual life. 2

SLIDE 6 One viable model seems to me the extension of Gerald Holton’s Thematic Origins of Scientific Thought (Thematische Analyse der Wissenschaft 1973/1978) to the humanities and the intellectual history, thereby bridging the gap between two or three science cultures since C.P. Snow. Topics like “republic of scholars” (intellectual circles), “coffee house science”, and thematic elements like “Deutsche Wissenschaft”, “crisis and construction”, “plan vs. market”, “mind vs. soul”, “parts and wholes”, “unity and plurality”, “ornament and Neue Sachlichkeit / new objectivity” may serve as heuristic elements and “macro-contexts” (W. Johnston) for an overarching investigation of the academic and non-academic “Geistesgeschichte”, with the historical-critical and comparative method as an integral part of historiography.

FOUR CASE STUDIES My proposal will be exemplified shortly with 4 case studies:

SLIDE 7: Jenseits von Kunst, Beyond Art 1.Weibel Peter Weibel’s exhibition catalogue Jenseits von Kunst in Austria and Hungary on the interaction of (mainly formal) philosophy, science and the arts, specified by a focus on “The Vienna Circle in Hungary” with reference to chapter 7 of William Johnston’s recent book. a) Weibel: Austrian-Hungarian scholars: mainly analytic with formal methods (Formalkünste, Weibel: Formalwissenschaften), science as art, art as science (from Riegl to Feyerabend): “Scientia sine arte nihil est; ars sine scientia nihil est” (Jean Vignot 1392). The “read thread” from Austro-Hungarian avant-garde to the Cultural Exodus from Austria.

SLIDE 8 The Vienna Circle (VC) in Hungary, Egon Brunswik b) Reidei/Stadler: problem of language, Brentano on Géza Révész; Mach in Hungary: Karl and Michael Polányi and the “Galileo Circle” (1908-1919) with Julius Pikler, Karl Mannheim and Georg Lukacs (Lenin vs. Mach!), continuation with the “Verein Ernst Mach” in Vienna (K. Polanyi/I. Duczynska, K. Popper) and in British exile; topics: meth. nominalism and individualism vs. universalism and fascism (O. Spann); VC: Eugen Lukacs, John von Neumann and the “Mathematical Colloquium” (K. Menger), cont. in the US with George Pólya and O. Morgenstern/J.v. Neumann, Theory of Games and Economic Behavior (1944); after 1945 discontinuity (the case of I. Lakatos), but: John Harsany (János Harsányi) and his Nobel Prize (Game theory 1994) and his fate because of his Jewish descent (Australia, USA); Egon Brunswik, (Lajos Kardos) and the Bühler-school in (Gestalt) psychology; R.v.Mises and Theodore von Kármán; “Third Vienna Circle” around V. Kraft and Bela Juhos: with I. Lakatos and P. Feyerabend; Summary: before 1914: strong reception in philosophy and psychology (Brentano and Mach); after 1918: emigration to the West (Vienna, Berlin, US); between 1918 and 1934: mutual contacts (VC/LE); cont. in exile (UK, US); after 1945: Lakatos, Popper etc., exception: Anton Fischer in Hungary (as an “unclassifiable”!).

SLIDE 9 Festschrift 1-4, Vol.1 2. The Festschrift The 4 volumes of the history of the University of Vienna (650 Jahre Universität Wien – Aufbruch ins neue Jahrhundert), esp. volume 1 Universität – Forschung – Lehre, which applies some of the above mentioned features and criteria on the development from 1848 to 2000. (e.g., from Kant’s Streit der Fakultäten (The Conflict of the Faculties) up to Bourdieu’s Homo Academicus, the history and theory of knowledge societies, Humboldt’s ideal type of university, the interplay of self-organization/autonomy and external intervention). SLIDES 10-12 General conception: paradigm for a new historiography of universities and integrated HPS as part of general history beyond a history of disciplines, institutions and university chairs. “Long 20th Century” (ca. 1848-2000). Problems and questions, esp. perspectives on the history of the University of Vienna in a comparative and interdisciplinary way, but work in progress. 4 Volumes: Research volumes 1-3, Self-presentation vol. 4. 650 Jahre Universität Wien – Aufbruch ins neue Jahrhundert. Vol. 1: Universität – Forschung – Lehre. Themen und Perspektiven im langen 20. Jhdt. Fields, institutions, disciplines of research (teachers and students) mainly from an epistemic perspective aiming at possible “cognitive identities”; Relation of the sciences and humanities exemplified with the “Streit der Fakultäten” since Kant up to Bourdieu’s Homo Academicus; History and Theory of the Knowledge Societies since the Middle Ages/Modern History; Re- evaluation of Humboldt’s ideal between pure and applied sciences with the central notion of Bildung; The tension between autonomy, self-organization and state planning/intervention; problematization of an ideal-typical “idea of the university” against any master-narrative as ex post “whig history”. Development and dissolution of the classical 4 Faculties since 1848.

- Nemeth/Stadler: Kant (1789), followed by Bourdieu (1960), who showed, that Kant’s analysis can be applied to (post)modern universities, too (esp. in the social sciences) instead of the “Humboldt University”; Kant’s claim: external expectations towards the universities are legitimate as a sort of compromise between the interests of the society and the reflexive and autonomous reason; modern dichotomies (Bildung-Ausbildung, pure and applied science, autonomous thinking – economical instrumentalization) are according to Kant to be discussed between the higher faculties (theology, law, medicine) and the lower one (philosophy). Bourdieu: all Faculties and disciplines are concerned with this unresolved dichotomy.

- Dahms/Stadler: Since 1365 “Artistenfakultät”, since 1848 Faculty of Philosophy: professionalization with doctoral studies (1872) and Habilitation; differentiation of philosophy: pedagogy, psychology; tension between philosophy and the sciences; linkages to the political and societal environment with continuing breaks. (1848, 1867, 1918, 1933/34, 1938, 1945, … 2002). Generally: philosophy lost its dominant role as the “queen of the sciences”, latest by the abolishment of the Philosophicum.

- Stadler/Stoppelkamp: the concept of knowledge society is usually related to an economization, utilization and contextualization of science and knowledge. Through this, the traditional role of university with the ideals of free and pure research and education seems to be called into question. This is critically discussed from two different points of view: Firstly, the function of European university as an agent in a competitive trans-institutional knowledge market since early modern times will be reassessed, with two main conclusions. The 4 knowledge society is not an exclusive phenomenon of the 2nd half of the 20th Century but was rather a continuous aspect of the evolvement of modern science. The same applies to the alleged monopoly position of academic knowledge. Secondly, referring to key concepts of the knowledge society and with the view to historical episodes of the Vienna University the still dominating academic self image as “Humboldt University” will be criticized. Academic principles and values as scientific unity and autonomy resulted from historical and instrumental conditions, which were not only different from the common Humboldtian narrative but also quite similar to our experiences with the present conditions of knowledge society.

Vol.2: Universität – Politik – Gesellschaft. University of Vienna between politics and society. External relations wit politics and society (biographies, institutions, social history); university as space of politics between breaks and continuities (subject and object of actor networks); biographies of “political professors”; social history of teachers and students; statistical design and structural change; university and the churches; the legal frames since 1848;

Vol.3: Reichweiten und Außenansichten. External perspectives on the University of Vienna contrasting self-images and attributions from international points of view; the comparative approach between tradition and innovation; 2 case studies in the life sciences and Balcony studies, and the inherent and growing anti-semitism up to the NS period; synopsis on the relation of the university - society - culture.

Vol.4: Reflexive Innensichten aus der Universität. Bottom up self-presentations of the facultis and departments („Fakultätenband“) up to the University Act 2002 (full autonomy): without the Faculty of Medicine!

SLIDE 13 3. Exhibition Catalog. The exhibition “The Vienna Circle. Exact Thinking in Demented Times” in Vienna (2015) to be presented as a paradigm for the fate of an avant-garde philosophy in the context of a specific interdisciplinary Viennese modernity. This is embedded in the contexts of Viennese culture movement including literature and architecture (e.g., Bauhaus, Werkbund and Josef Frank). It is also a typical history for several intellectual “schools” (medicine, art history, psychology and social research, musicology, law), which shared the fate of forced migration caused by the anti-semitic and totalitarian cultural and political policy. These case studies can be generalized regarding the Cultural Exodus from Austria. http://www.univie.ac.at/exhibitionViennaCircle/exhibitionViennaCircle/exhibition.html http://zkm.de/event/2016/04/globale-der-wiener-kreis-digitale-logik-und-wissenschaftliche- philosophie

SLIDE 14 The Cultural Exodus from Austria The Vienna Circle as a model for interdisciplinarity and “Parabel für einen Denkstil” / Parable for a Thought Style (Heinz von Foerster): philosophy, sciences, history and sociology, adult education and graphic communication (Isotype), interactions with architecture (Bauhaus, 5

Werkbund, Josef Frank and the Social and Economic Museum), literature (R. Musil, I. Bachmann, H. Spiel …) and art history /Neue Sachlichkeit (F. Roh), VC and Jewish Culture!

SLIDE 15 The Vienna Circle. EXACT THINKING IN DEMENTED TIMES. Exhibition, 20.05. — 31.10.2015 /, University of Vienna; Center for Art and Media (ZKM) Karlsruhe Juli- September 2016; HOPOS 2016, University of Minnesota, June 22-26, 2016.

About the Vienna Circle In 1924, a philosopher (Moritz Schlick), a mathematician (Hans Hahn) and a social reformer (Otto Neurath) founded a philosophical circle in Vienna. The group discussed questions such as: how can the efficiency of mathematics be explained? What is the role of logical propositions? What is the basis of scientific knowledge? Young thinkers such as Kurt Gödel, Rudolf Carnap or Karl Menger joined the group, while others (such as Karl Popper or Oskar Morgenstern) were close associates. The circle quickly became the center of logical empiricism. It had close contacts with Albert Einstein, Bertrand Russell and Ludwig Wittgenstein. The topics discussed by the circle were soon taken up in Prague and Berlin, Cambridge and Harvard. The public phase of the Vienna Circle began in 1929, with the Manifesto and the Ernst Mach Society. The Vienna Circle quickly became a popular target of antisemitic and reactionary currents at the University of Vienna, the political surroundings turned increasingly adverse. In 1934, Hahn died. Neurath was forced into exile. Schlick was murdered in 1936 by a former student. The Vienna Circle dissolved even before the Nazi take-over and it never succeeded in regaining a foothold in Vienna after the war (until the 1990s). It did, however, continue to exert a decisive influence on the intellectual life and philosophy of the 20th century.

About the Exhibition Visualizing philosophy is a challenge for multi-media science communication, but we were fortunate to be able to use Peter Weibel’s ‘augmented reality’ installations to present a rich store of images, documents and texts. A central part of our exhibition was devoted to the history of the racist and political persecution of intellectuals and scholars, leading to the exodus of the Vienna Circle and the brutal suppression of Vienna’s ‘Golden Autumn’. Many of the central topics of the Vienna Circle are still with us. There is a direct line leading from the abstract investigations of Carnap and Gödel on symbolic logic to programmed computers and the algorithms governing our life today. The ‘Vienna pictorial statistics’ (Isotype) of Neurath led to the pictograms that continue to direct streams of passengers all over the world. The Circle also had close contacts with eminent writers and architects. There was a tight connection with quantum physics and with Albert Einstein (Schlick was Einstein’s prophet and ‘Hausphilosoph’, and Gödel became Einstein’s best friend). During the first half of the last century, Vienna’s role in philosophy was crucial. In the constellation of Mach, Boltzmann, Wittgenstein, Gödel and Popper, the Vienna Circle was a leading player. Its history includes murder and suicide, persecution and nervous breakdowns, and is fuelled by heated controversies, ranging from the debate between Mach and Boltzmann about the reality of atoms to the fierce clash between Popper and Wittgenstein about whether philosophical problems exist at all. The exhibition deals with the extraordinary intellectual and cultural feats that led to the emergence of the Vienna Circle. At the same time, it will also take a closer look at the terrible ravages of political fanaticism and anti-semitism, and the ruthless destruction of a role model of exact thinking. Last not least, the exhibition reveals the international impact that the Vienna Circle exerts in the long run.

SLIDE 16: http://mach16.univie.ac.at 4. Ernst Mach. The last exemplification will be the life and work of Ernst Mach, who was on the agenda on the occasion of the centenary conference at the University of Vienna in June 2016: Mach was one of the central scholarly and intellectual figures of the Monarchy and Vienna 1900. He provided a genuine interdisciplinary history and philosophy of science and inspired a lot of intellectuals outside his own scholarly field covering the social sciences, humanities as well as music, art, literature (Kienzl, Riegl, Musil, Schnitzler and “Jung Wien” etc.) because of his historical-genetic methodology and empirical “Analysis of Sensations”. In this regard he can be seen as a model or proto-type for a “Naturforscher” as a prototype for interdisciplinarity.

SLIDES 17-18 Ernst Mach (1838-1916) ranks among the most significant natural scientists and philosophers of the 19th and 20th century. In physics paving the way for Einstein’s Theory of Relativity and opposing Boltzmann’s Atomism, in biology, psychology and physiology pioneering with an empiricist and ‘gestalthaft’ “Analysis of Sensations”, in philosophy of science serving as a model for the Vienna Circle with the Ernst Mach Society as well as paving the way for an integrated history and theory of science. His influence extends far beyond the natural sciences – to the Vienna Medical School and psychoanalysis (R. Bárány, J. Breuer, S. Freud), to literature („Jung Wien“, R. Musil), to politics (F. Adler, Austro-Marxism and the Viennese adult education), to arts between Futurism and Minimal Art as well as to social sciences between the liberal school (J. Schumpeter, F.A. von Hayek) and empirical social research (P. Lazarsfeld und M. Jahoda). In today’s pedagogy, his genetic theory of learning is just as respected as his method in historical epistemology. Mach’s international impact already showed during his lifetime, in American Pragmatism (W. James) and French Conventionalism (P. Duhem, H. Poincaré). On the occasion of the centenary of Ernst Mach’s death, the Institute Vienna Circle organized an international symposium on the life, work and influence of this natural scientist and philosopher who worked at the University of Vienna and the Austrian Academy of Sciences for many years and who exerted significant influence on several generations of scholars and scientists as well as of cultural and political agents. The main goal is a critical inventory of Mach’s lifework in line with state-of-the-art research and historiography – not least supported by the Ernst Mach Studienausgabe (study edition) and the work in the framework of the newly established Commission for the History and Philosophy of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. SLIDE 19

(By the way, an alternative and complementary case study is Eric Kandel’s inspiring The Age of Insight. The Quest to Understand the Unconscious in Art, Mind, and Brain (2012).

RELEVANCE TO THE HAUS DER GESCHICHTE With reference to the future Haus der Geschichte it seems obvious, that these interdisciplinary models are challenges for any implementation of intellectual history, because they allow for the multi-ethnic and pluralistic presentation of hidden (sub-)cultures as a symptom for Vertriebene Vernunft in the “long 20th Century” with the contribution and destruction of Jewish culture in context. The wider frame is asking for integrating exile and migration studies in Habsburgia and provoking the comparison with the present immigration problem and controversial debates in the public all over Europe. Desiderata: Vienna, Berlin, Prague, Warsaw, Lwow/Lviv … as urban cultures! In addition, this may be also one guiding key “auf der Suche nach verborgenen Gemeinsamkeiten” between Austria and Hungary (W. Johnston).

References:

Steven Beller (Ed.) (2001). Rethinking Vienna 1900. New York: Oxford: Berghahn

Hubert Christian Ehalt, Friedrich Stadler, Edward Timms, Heidemarie Uhl, Schorskes Wien: Eine Neuerfindung. Wien: Picus 2012, S.44:

Gerald Holton (1973). Thematic Origins of Scintific Thought. Kepler to Einstein. Cambridge. Deutsch: Thematische Analyse der Wissenschaft. Frankfurt/M: Suhrkamp 1981.

William M. Johnston (2015). Zur Kulturgeschichte Österreichs und Ungarns 1890-1938. Auf der Suche nach den verborgenen Gemeinsamkeiten. Wien: Böhlau.

William M. Johnston (2010). Der Österreichische Mensch. Kulturgeschichte der Eigenart Österreichs. Wien: Böhlau.

William M. Johnston (1972). Österreichische Kultur- und Geistesgeschichte. Gesellschaft und Ideen im Donauraum 1848-1938. Wien: Böhlau 1972. Eric R. Kandel (2012). The Age of Insight. The Quest to Understand the Unconscious in Art, Mind, Brain, From Vienna 1900 to the Present. New York: Random house.

Christoph Limbeck / Friedrich Stadler (2015). Der Wiener Kreis. Texte und Bilder zum Logischen Empirismus. Münster: LIT Verlag.

András Máté, Miklos Redei, Friedrich Stadler (Eds.) (2011). Der Wiener Kreis in Ungarn. The Vienna Circle in Hungary. Wien-New York: Springer.

Friedrich Stadler (1996). “Wissenschaft und österreichische Zeitgeschichte”, in: Österreichische Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaften 1/1996, S.93-116.

Friedrich Stadler (Hrsg.) (1997). Wissenschaft als Kultur. Österreichs Beitrag zur Moderne. Wien-New York: Springer.

Friedrich Stadler (2002). „The Emigration and Exile of Austrian Intellectuals“, in: Rolf Steininger, Günter Bischof, Michael Gehler (Eds.), Austria in the Twentieth Century. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers, pp. 116-136.

Friedrich Stadler (Hrsg.) (2004). Kontinuität und Bruch 1938 – 1945 – 1955. Beiträge zur Österreichischen Kultur- und Wissenschaftsgeschichte. Münster: LIT Verlag.

Friedrich Stadler (Hrsg.) (2004). Vertriebene Vernunft. Emigration und Exil Österreichischer Wissenschaft 1930-1940. 2 Bände. Münster: LIT Verlag.

Friedrich Stadler (Hrsg.). (2008 ff.). Ernst Mach Studienausgabe. 6 Bände. Berlin: xenomoi

Friedrich Stadler / Peter Weibel (Eds.) (1995). The Cultural Exodus from Austria. Wien-New York: Springer.

Edward Timms (2013) , Dynamik der Kreis, Resonanz der Räume. Die schöpferischen Impulse der Wiener Moderne. Weitra: Verlag Bibliothek der Provinz.

Peter Weibel (Hrsg.) (1997). Jenseits von Kunst. Wien: Passagen Verlag.

650 Jahre Universität Wien – Aufbruch ins neue Jahrhundert. Hrsg. von Friedrich Stadler im Namen der „Universitären Kommission zur wissenschaftlichen Aufarbeitung der Universitätsgeschichte, insbesondere im Rahmen des 650-Jahr-Jubiläums“ und des Forums „Zeitgeschichte der Universität Wien“ (Katharina Kniefacz und Herbert Posch). 4 Bände. Göttingen: Vienna University Press 2015. Band 1: Universität – Forschung – Lehre. Themen und Perspektiven im langen 20. Jahrhundert. Hrsg. von Katharina Kniefacz, Elisabeth Nemeth, Herbert Posch, Friedrich Stadler Band 2: Universität – Politik – Gesellschaft. Hrsg. von Mitchell G. Ash und Josef Ehmer. Band 3: Reichweiten und Außenansichten. Die Universität Wien als Schnittstelle wissenschaftlicher Entwicklungen und gesellschaftlicher Umbrüche. Band 4: Reflexive Innensichten aus der Universität. Disziplinengeschichten zwischen Wissenschaft, Gesellschaft und Politik. Hrsg. von Karl Anton Fröschl, Gerd B. Müller, Thomas Olechowski, Brigitta Schmidt-Lauber.