KARL POPPER's DEBT to LEONARD NELSON Nikolay
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Leonard Nelson a Theory of Philosophical Fallacies
Argumentation Library Leonard Nelson A Theory of Philosophical Fallacies Translated by Fernando Leal and David Carus A Theory of Philosophical Fallacies Argumentation Library VOLUME 26 Series Editor Frans H. van Eemeren, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands Editorial Board Bart Garssen, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands Scott Jacobs, University of Illinois at Urbana-Campaign, USA Erik C.W. Krabbe, University of Groningen, The Netherlands John Woods, University of British Columbia, Canada More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/5642 Leonard Nelson A Theory of Philosophical Fallacies 123 Leonard Nelson Göttingen Germany Translated by Fernando Leal and David Carus Deceased—Leonard Nelson (1882–1927) ISSN 1566-7650 ISSN 2215-1907 (electronic) Argumentation Library ISBN 978-3-319-20782-7 ISBN 978-3-319-20783-4 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-20783-4 Library of Congress Control Number: 2015945152 Springer Cham Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016 Main text translated from the German language edition: Typische Denkfehler in der Philosophie by Leonard Nelson, © Felix Meiner Verlag 2011. All rights reserved Appendix translated from the German language edition: “Die kritische Ethik bei Kant, Schiller und Fries: eine Revision ihrer Prinzipien”, Gesammelte Schriften in neun Bänden, vol. VIII, pp. 27–192 by Leonard Nelson, © Felix Meiner Verlag 1971. All rights reserved This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. -
Would ''Direct Realism'' Resolve the Classical Problem of Induction?
NOU^S 38:2 (2004) 197–232 Would ‘‘Direct Realism’’ Resolve the Classical Problem of Induction? MARC LANGE University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill I Recently, there has been a modest resurgence of interest in the ‘‘Humean’’ problem of induction. For several decades following the recognized failure of Strawsonian ‘‘ordinary-language’’ dissolutions and of Wesley Salmon’s elaboration of Reichenbach’s pragmatic vindication of induction, work on the problem of induction languished. Attention turned instead toward con- firmation theory, as philosophers sensibly tried to understand precisely what it is that a justification of induction should aim to justify. Now, however, in light of Bayesian confirmation theory and other developments in epistemology, several philosophers have begun to reconsider the classical problem of induction. In section 2, I shall review a few of these developments. Though some of them will turn out to be unilluminating, others will profitably suggest that we not meet inductive scepticism by trying to justify some alleged general principle of ampliative reasoning. Accordingly, in section 3, I shall examine how the problem of induction arises in the context of one particular ‘‘inductive leap’’: the confirmation, most famously by Henrietta Leavitt and Harlow Shapley about a century ago, that a period-luminosity relation governs all Cepheid variable stars. This is a good example for the inductive sceptic’s purposes, since it is difficult to see how the sparse background knowledge available at the time could have entitled stellar astronomers to regard their observations as justifying this grand inductive generalization. I shall argue that the observation reports that confirmed the Cepheid period- luminosity law were themselves ‘‘thick’’ with expectations regarding as yet unknown laws of nature. -
CAUSATION Chapter 4 Humean Reductionism
CAUSATION Chapter 4 Humean Reductionism – Analyses in Terms of Nomological Conditions Many different accounts of causation, of a Humean reductionist sort, have been advanced, but four types are especially important. Of these, three involve analytical reductionism. First, there are approaches which start out from the general notion of a law of nature, then define the ideas of necessary, and sufficient, nomological conditions, and, finally, employ the latter concepts to explain what it is for one state of affairs to cause another. Secondly, there are approaches that employ subjunctive conditionals, either in an attempt to give a purely counterfactual analysis of causation (David Lewis, 1973 and 1979), or as a supplement to other notions, such as that of agency (Georg von Wright, 1971). Thirdly, there are approaches that employ the idea of probability, either to formulate a purely probabilistic analysis (Hans Reichenbach, 1956; I. J. Good, 1961 and 1962; Patrick Suppes, 1970; Ellery Eells, 1991; D. H. Mellor, 1995) - where the central idea is that a cause must, in some way, make its effect more likely -- or as a supplement to other ideas, such as that of a continuous process (Wesley Salmon, 1984). Finally, a fourth approach involves the idea of offering, not an analytic reduction of causation, but a contingent identification of causation, as it is in this world, with a relation whose only constituents are non- causal properties and relations. One idea, for example, is that causal processes can be identified with continuous processes in which relevant quantities are conserved (Wesley Salmon, 1997 and 1998; Phil Dowe, 2000a and 2000b). -
Leonard Nelson a Theory of Philosophical Fallacies
Argumentation Library Leonard Nelson A Theory of Philosophical Fallacies Translated by Fernando Leal and David Carus A Theory of Philosophical Fallacies Argumentation Library VOLUME 26 Series Editor Frans H. van Eemeren, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands Editorial Board Bart Garssen, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands Scott Jacobs, University of Illinois at Urbana-Campaign, USA Erik C.W. Krabbe, University of Groningen, The Netherlands John Woods, University of British Columbia, Canada More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/5642 Leonard Nelson A Theory of Philosophical Fallacies 123 Leonard Nelson Göttingen Germany Translated by Fernando Leal and David Carus Deceased—Leonard Nelson (1882–1927) ISSN 1566-7650 ISSN 2215-1907 (electronic) Argumentation Library ISBN 978-3-319-20782-7 ISBN 978-3-319-20783-4 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-20783-4 Library of Congress Control Number: 2015945152 Springer Cham Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016 Main text translated from the German language edition: Typische Denkfehler in der Philosophie by Leonard Nelson, © Felix Meiner Verlag 2011. All rights reserved Appendix translated from the German language edition: “Die kritische Ethik bei Kant, Schiller und Fries: eine Revision ihrer Prinzipien”, Gesammelte Schriften in neun Bänden, vol. VIII, pp. 27–192 by Leonard Nelson, © Felix Meiner Verlag 1971. All rights reserved This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. -
A Centennial Volume for Rudolf Carnap and Hans Reichenbach
W. Spohn (Ed.) Erkenntnis Orientated: A Centennial Volume for Rudolf Carnap and Hans Reichenbach Rudolf Carnap was born on May 18, 1891, and Hans Reichenbach on September 26 in the same year. They are two of the greatest philosophers of this century, and they are eminent representatives of what is perhaps the most powerful contemporary philosophical movement. Moreover, they founded the journal Erkenntnis. This is ample reason for presenting, on behalf of Erkenntnis, a collection of essays in honor of them and their philosophical work. I am less sure, however, whether it is a good time for resuming their philosophical impact; their work still is rather part than historical basis of the present philosophical melting-pot. Their basic philosophical theses have currently, it may seem, not so high a standing, but their impact can be seen in numerous detailed issues; they have opened or pushed forward lively fields of research which are still very actively pursued not only within philosophy, but also in many neighboring disciplines. Whatever the present balance of opinions about their philosophical ideas, there is something even more basic in their philosophy than their tenets which is as fresh, as stimulating, as exemplary as ever. I have in mind their way of philosophizing, their conception of how to Reprinted from `ERKENNTNIS', 35: 1-3, do philosophy. It is always a good time for reinforcing that conception; and if this volume 1991, IV, 471 p. would manage to do so, it would fully serve its purpose. Printed book Hardcover ▶ 194,99 € | £175.50 | $269.00 ▶ *208,64 € (D) | 214,49 € (A) | CHF 260.25 eBook Available from your bookstore or ▶ springer.com/shop MyCopy Printed eBook for just ▶ € | $ 24.99 ▶ springer.com/mycopy Order online at springer.com ▶ or for the Americas call (toll free) 1-800-SPRINGER ▶ or email us at: [email protected]. -
Brsq #142-144
THE BERTRAND RUSSELL SOCIETY QUARTERLY Fall 2009 Issue Numbers 142 -144 / May -November 2009 THE ROAD TO CONNECTICUT Published by The Bertrand Russell Society with the support of Lehman College - City University of New York THE BERTRAND RUSSELL SoCIET¥ QUARTERLY is the official organ of the THE BERTRAND RUSSELL SOCIETY Bertrand Russell Society. It publishes Society news and proceedings, and QUARTERLY articles on the history of analytic philosophy, especially those on Russell's life and works, including historical materials and reviews of recent work on Fall 2009 Issue Russell. Scholarly articles appearing in the a"crrfer/,v are peer-reviewed. Numbers 142-144 / May -November 2009 Co-EDITORS: Rosalind Carey and John Ongley ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Ray Perkins Jr. EDITORIAL BOARD Rosalind Carey, Lehman College-CUNY THE ROAD TO CONNECTICUT John Ongley, Bloomsburg University Raymond Perkins, Jr., Plymouth State University Christopher Pincock, Purdue University David Hyder, University of Ottawa CONTENTS Anat Biletzki, Tel Aviv University SuBMISsloNS : All communications to the Ber/ra#cJ Rwssc// Soci.edy gwcrr/er- In This Issue /y, including manuscripts. book reviews, and letters to the editor, should be Society News sent to: Prof. Rosalind Carey, Philosophy Department, Lehman College- ln Memoriam: Theo Meijer CUNY, 250 Bed ford Park Blvd. West, Bronx, NY 10468, USA, or by email to: [email protected]. Feature SuBSCRlpTloNS: The BRS gwc}rfedy is free to members of the Bertrand Rus- sell Society. Society membership is $35 a year for individuals, $40 for cou- Nicholas Griffin Speaks His Mind: An Interview by ples, and $20 for students and limited income individuals. -
Nora Platiel1 1896-1979 Biografische Notizen
Nora Platiel1 1896-1979 Biografische Notizen Laura Schibbe Nora Platiel wurde am 14. Januar 1896 als Eleonore Block in Bochum geboren. Sie war das achte von zehn Geschwistern. Ihre Eltern Bendix und Therese Block betrieben ein Bekleidungsgeschäft in Bochum. Trotz hoher Arbeitsbelastung waren die Beziehung der Eltern und das Familienleben sehr herzlich und harmonisch. Das Haus wurde mit- unter auch Blockstation genannt, weil viele Menschen ein- und ausgingen. Die Familie Block lebte nicht nur in einer Hausgemeinschaft mit einem Verkäufer und zwei Haus- angestellten. Der Vater war noch für weitere Kinder als Vormund eingesetzt, so dass die Blockstation auch ein reger Treffpunkt für die Kinder aus der Nachbarschaft war. Die Familie Block gehörte der jüdischen Gemeinde an, lebte jedoch nach liberalen Grundsätzen. Bild 12 Familie Therese und Bendix Block, ca. 1900 Nora ist die Dritte von links Foto: E. Risse Bochum 1912 starb Bendix Block an einem Gallenleiden. Der plötzliche Verlust des geliebten Vaters bedeutete für Nora Block den ersten tiefen Einschnitt ihres Lebens. Sie konnte ihre begonnene Schulausbildung am Lyzeum nicht beenden und musste zum Lebens- unterhalt der Familie beitragen, der nun ungesichert war. Nora Block war gezwungen, sich Arbeit zu suchen. Zunächst half sie noch in der vom Vater neu gegründeten Rekla- mefirma mit, jedoch konnte deren Bankrott nicht verhindert werden. 1917 verließ sie 1 Eine kürzere Version dieses Textes findet sich in der Hessischen Biografie, abgerufen am 12.09.2019. 2 Weitere Angaben zu den Bildern am Ende des Textes. 1 Deutschland und meldete sich zur Internationalen Kriegsdiensthilfe. Sie kam nach Rumänien und war dort als Sekretärin tätig. -
Logical Empiricism / Positivism Some Empiricist Slogans
4/13/16 Logical empiricism / positivism Some empiricist slogans o Hume’s 18th century book-burning passage Key elements of a logical positivist /empiricist conception of science o Comte’s mid-19th century rejection of n Motivations for post WW1 ‘scientific philosophy’ ‘speculation after first & final causes o viscerally opposed to speculation / mere metaphysics / idealism o Duhem’s late 19th/early 20th century slogan: o a normative demarcation project: to show why science ‘save the phenomena’ is and should be epistemically authoritative n Empiricist commitments o Hempel’s injunction against ‘detours n Logicism through the realm of unobservables’ Conflicts & Memories: The First World War Vienna Circle Maria Marchant o Debussy: Berceuse héroique, Élégie So - what was the motivation for this “revolutionary, written war-time Paris (1914), heralds the ominous bugle call of war uncompromising empricism”? (Godfrey Smith, Ch. 2) o Rachmaninov: Études-Tableaux Op. 39, No 8, 5 “some of the most impassioned, fervent work the composer wrote” Why the “massive intellectual housecleaning”? (Godfrey Smith) o Ireland: Rhapsody, London Nights, London Pieces a “turbulant, virtuosic work… Consider the context: World War I / the interwar period o Prokofiev: Visions Fugitives, Op. 22 written just before he fled as a fugitive himself to the US (1917); military aggression & sardonic irony o Ravel: Le Tombeau de Couperin each of six movements dedicated to a friend who died in the war x Key problem (1): logicism o Are there, in fact, “rules” governing inference -
1 a Tale of Two Interpretations
Notes 1 A Tale of Two Interpretations 1. As Georges Dicker puts it, “Hume’s influence on contemporary epistemology and metaphysics is second to none ... ” (1998, ix). Note, too, that Hume’s impact extends beyond philosophy. For consider the following passage from Einstein’s letter to Moritz Schlick: Your representations that the theory of rel. [relativity] suggests itself in positivism, yet without requiring it, are also very right. In this also you saw correctly that this line of thought had a great influence on my efforts, and more specifically, E. Mach, and even more so Hume, whose Treatise of Human Nature I had studied avidly and with admiration shortly before discovering the theory of relativity. It is very possible that without these philosophical studies I would not have arrived at the solution (Einstein 1998, 161). 2. For a brief overview of Hume’s connection to naturalized epistemology, see Morris (2008, 472–3). 3. For the sake of convenience, I sometimes refer to the “traditional reading of Hume as a sceptic” as, e.g., “the sceptical reading of Hume” or simply “the sceptical reading”. Moreover, I often refer to those who read Hume as a sceptic as, e.g., “the sceptical interpreters of Hume” or “the sceptical inter- preters”. By the same token, I sometimes refer to those who read Hume as a naturalist as, e.g., “the naturalist interpreters of Hume” or simply “the natu- ralist interpreters”. And the reading that the naturalist interpreters support I refer to as, e.g., “the naturalist reading” or “the naturalist interpretation”. 4. This is not to say, though, that dissenting voices were entirely absent. -
Politics and Philosophy in the Left Vienna Circle
Intersubjective Accountability: Politics and Philosophy in the Left Vienna Circle Thomas Uebel The University of Manchester In different places Rudolf Carnap and Otto Neurath affirmed “a noteworthy agreement” and an “inner link” between their philosophy of science and political movements agitating for radical socio-economic change. Given the normative abstinence of Vienna Circle philosophy, indeed the metaethical com- mitments of its verificationism, this claim presents a major interpretive chal- lenge that is only heightened when Neurath’s engagement for the socialization of national economies is taken into account. It is argued here that Carnap’s and Neurath’s positions are saved from inconsistency once some careful distinc- tions are understood and it is recognized that they, together with the other members of the Circle, adhered to an epistemic norm here called “intersubjective accountability.” 1. Introduction The question of the political potential possessed by the philosophies of the Vienna Circle is complex for more than one reason. It is so partly due to the politically heterogeneous membership of the Circle, partly due to the dif- ficult if not extreme political circumstances under which they had to operate, and partly due to the variable meanings of the parameter “political,” some of which are and some of which are not compatible with, in turn, variable ver- sions of the doctrine of the value-neutrality of science. For instance, philos- ophies of science may steadfastly be standing guard against pseudo-scientific nonsense being paraded as worthy of credence in public discourse, this con- cern for intellectual hygene becoming “political” depending on who spouts An earlier version of this paper was presented at the workshop “Positivismus als gesellschaftliches und politsches Projekt” convened by Eric Hilgendorf at the University of Münster in January 2017 and I thank the participants for discussions. -
Alfred Jules Ayer 1910–1989
Copyright © The British Academy 1997 – all rights reserved Proceedings of the British Academy, 94, 255–282 Alfred Jules Ayer 1910–1989 SIR ALFRED AYER, as A. J. or Freddie Ayer came to be known to some extent after 1970, was born on 29 October 1910. His father was Jules Ayer, a French-speaking Swiss from Neufchaˆtel, who had lived in England since coming here to join his mother at the age of seventeen. He worked for some years in Rothschild’s Bank and as secretary to Alfred Rothschild, and died in 1928 at the time when A. J. Ayer was preparing to move from Eton to Oxford. He had married in 1909 Reine Citroe¨n, who was of an Ashkenazi Jewish family from Holland. Her uncle Andre´ set up the car firm which bears the family name, and her father, David, was also in the car business and established the Minerva company. He rescued Jules from bankruptcy in 1912 and set him up in the timber business, where he seems to have prospered mildly. The grandfather appears to have been a larger presence in A. J. Ayer’s early life than Jules. Ayer was born in the family flat in St John’s Wood and lived the solitary urban life of an only child of not very assimilated parents. In 1917 he was sent to a preparatory school at Eastbourne, which Ayer thought resembled the St Cyprians of George Orwell and Cyril Con- nolly, against which matches were played. He worked hard and was well taught, gaining the third classical scholarship to Eton in an exam- ination he was sitting simply as a trial run for a later assault on Charterhouse. -
THE CONCEPT of the SENSE-DATUM in the PERCEPTUAL ESSAYS of GE MOORE. the Ohio State University, Ph.D., 1966 Philosophy
This dissertation has been microfilmed exactly as received 6 7 -2 5 5 1 TITCHENER, John McLellan, 1937- THE CONCEPT OF THE SENSE-DATUM IN THE PERCEPTUAL ESSAYS OF G. E. MOORE. The Ohio State University, Ph.D., 1966 Philosophy University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan THE CONCEPT OE THE 3EN5E-DATUM IN THE PERCEPTUAL ESSAYS OF G.E. MOORE DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By John McLellan Titchoner, A.B., M.A., T.l.A. The Ohio State University 1966 Approved by Department of Philosophy PREFACE This dissertation has grown out of a seminar led by Professor Morris Weitz on G.E. Moore. During the course of the seminar I became convinced that no one of Moore1s arguments for the existence of sensc-data was a sound one but felt that I did not understand why Moore employed the notion. I was not, and an not, sure that he intended the introductions of sensc-data to be good arguments. The dissertation attempts to place the concept of the sense-datum in a larger framework 'which will explain the uses to which Moore put the notion. I an indebted to Professor Weitz whose encourage ment got me started on what has turned out to be a most interesting project. I an also indebted to Professor Robert Turnbull who, during Professor V/eitz's leave of absence, took on a half-finishcd dissertation and unstintingly gave me his time and. the benefit of his criticism.